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I grew up playing piano... so it was natural that I was pretty close to my piano teacher and her family... she played piano/organ for our church, it was a small town/church community, her husband was like another dad to me. But Cal had cancer... and while it ate away at him, he never once stopped being jovial about life. Towards the end, he was in so much pain that he would cry from it when he was trying to talk, yet talk anyway. One of the things he loved to do was sing... and he said that he was gonna lick this thing, and someday he was gonna have me play the piano somewhere, and he would sing Opera along with my playing... And so I was told I'd better go off practicing a whole bunch so I'd be ready. What I didn't know was he was trying to spare me the pain of watching die in front of my eyes... I begged my mom almost every day to let me see him before that.... when he said I needed to practice, he told me to work real hard for a week and come back... and then we'd play/sing together. So little did I know he was fighting a losing battle while I sat for hours on my piano, legs swinging and little fingers flying... all to be as good as I could so Cal could sing with me. When the week was up, I demanded to go see Cal so I could show him.... and was told he'd died that morning ... "But we were supposed to sing together!" ... my piano teacher came to me after all was said and done... and said that Cal had died singing with his eyes ... and had heard my music in his dreams.... that he had told her that he had heard my music all week in his head as he laid there ... and it was as sweet as angels music. I don't remember how old I was, just that the joy of one person has kept me going back... and back... until it aches when I can't fill my mind with my melodies....
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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna
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