转发：What is the best memory of my first piano lesson?

When my mother was a little girl, she always wanted to learn how to play the piano. She was the youngest of seven children, so needless to say there was little money to go around and no extra left over to pay for piano lessons. When she got married, she decided that one day, she would own a piano and she would learn how to play it.

Sure enough, she did exactly that. My mother bought a piano, and through the help of some friends, she learned how to chord and how to read music. She sat at that piano bench, playing away and singing at the top of her lungs! She enjoyed it so much, and she decided right then and there that her children would have the piano lessons that she never had.

My sister, Lori, is seven years older than I am. When I was born, she had just begun taking piano lessons. By the time I was old enough to take my first piano lesson, Lori had already been playing for seven years. I wanted to play just as well as she could play, and I wanted it now! But I had a lot to learn, and playing the piano isn't learned in a day.

My first piano lesson consisted of learning how to sit at the piano, with my back straight and my feet hanging down. No slouching mind you! I wasn't tall enough for my feet to reach the pedals just yet. I learned that there were 88 keys, 52 white ones, and 36 black ones. I learned where middle 'C' was. And that day, my first piano lesson consisted of placing my hands on the keys, while my thumbs took turns playing middle 'C'. So much for walking out of that lesson playing as well as my sister could! But in time, I learned to play, and I learned to play well.

Forty-two years later, I still love playing the piano. There were times in those first few years that I wanted to quit. There were times I sat at that piano and I did more crying than I did playing! As much as I begged my mother to let me stop taking lessons, she always encouraged me, always cheered me on, always told me that one day I would be thankful that I didn't give up. And she was right. I am so grateful that she didn't give in. I'm sure she had her fill of hearing me cry or stomp around because I didn't want to sit down at that bench and practice for 30 minutes. It would have been just as easy for her as it would have been for me to just give in and give up. But that's not the way you did things at my house. I learned early on that quitters never win, and winners never quit.

Mom still loves hearing me play the piano. When my sister is in town, we'll both go over to Mom and Dad's house, and we'll sit down together at that old piano bench, and play and sing as my parents listen and watch. Their gift to their children was paying for those lessons and never letting us give up. And our gift to them is a home filled with beautiful music.