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Year Two, Day 246: A Glorious Day!


Getting ready to head out into the cold.  The sun is shining, reflecting brilliantly off of the snow. The sky is deep blue and cloudless.  Looking out the window is a glorious sight.  But the sunlight is deceptive.  It is only 28 degrees at nearly 1:00 p.m.











I feel good today.  Excited to get out of the house. I have 7 students today. All boys.  Most on the same block.  I was going to try to make it to the gym first, but time is getting away from me. I need to allow extra walking and busing time.

Plus, I am wanting to stop at the music store first and pick up a piece one of my boys requested. Cannot resist when a student gets enthusiastic about playing a new piece on the piano!

Ready to Roll!

I put on two layers of nearly everything!  But I do not have snow boots. Rain boots yes. But after my two block walk and 10 minute wait at the bus stop, I could barely feel my toes.

I was never so happy to see a bus in my life!

Nice warm bus!

I got off near the music store, and instantly had a horrible thought: What if the music store was closed today due to inclement weather?!

But, all was well. They were open. I found the piece my students requested. It is called "Angelfish" by Anne Crosby Gaudet. Very cool piece!

 Then I waited another 10 minutes with frozen toes for the next bus. Amazingly, I made it to my first student's house on time. 

I packed a thermos of coffee. One of my student's gave me a "Hydroflask" for Christmas. This is the most amazing thermos. I filled it with coffee and a splash of almond milk and a bit of hot chocolate at about 1:00 p.m.  When I walked into my last house at 6:30 p.m., the outside of the Hydroflask was ice cold. But the little bit of coffee that remained was still hot.

The little things make me so happy!

 All of my students had snow days today. So they were all in great spirits.  I got to ooh and aah over their snow creations: igloos, snow men, and a snow bear!

 They all seemed happier to see me than usual.  Perhaps they are getting cabin fever too? I just heard school is canceled for tomorrow.  I think the parents were happy to see me too.

In fact one home had a visiting adult.  She clapped when my student and I did our routine end of lesson blues jam. This student loves to jam on the blues. But sight read - not so much.  He does not always seem so happy to see me. Sometimes I get the feeling that he would rather be outside playing with his friends. Well, I KNOW this to be true. But he is never rude. Just sometimes quiet.

 Today, after our jam, the visiting adult said, "Wow! You guys seem to be really having fun at your piano lesson! I remember as a kid, that piano lessons were pure torture!"

 To my surprise, my sometimes sullen young man said, "No! I LOVE piano lessons! Especially with Teacher Zita. Not really so much with my mom!"

 I hid a very pleased grin as he picked his sticker.

 Then I hid another very pleased grin when my adult son asked if we could go out for Pho after my last student.

On top of it all, I got an email. I am scheduled for an interview with the pastor of the church that I am applying for the part time church secretary job. Interview is tomorrow at 12:00 noon. I have a good feeling about this!
  All in all a GLORIOUS day!
Happy Thursday!

 Stay safe and warm!  

 Z

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