Eight years have come and gone since my last published posting. It was somewhat refreshing reading the old blogs however few they were. The memoriams to my Dad were sad to read but the passage of time has somewhat healed the grief of loss. My current grief is my Mom's state of health. Over the years since my Dad's death her physical condition has somewhat deteriorated. She is weak from a nagging heart condition. A pacemaker and some medication has kept death at bay for now but withering eyesight, disfigurement caused by rheumatoid arthritis, residual pain from a recent mugging incident, and bad knees have made her quality of life somewhat poor. Most serious however are persistent atrial fibrillation episodes that the pacemaker and medicine provide little more than a salve metaphorically speaking for her discomfort. It's a nagging dread. I wish I could make her better.
I actually started this posting over two years ago and kept it in the back burner until now. It was then that I found out about the death of Ruth Friedrich, my family's next door neighbor from 1978 to 2002. She was my piano teacher and a really kind-hearted human being. Although I had enough interest in the instrument to progress to an intermediate level in the two years that I was her student, it was her encouraging tutelage that kept my interest alive for three and half decades. The past couple of years in fact had me retaking piano lessons at a school in Los Angeles. The teachers were much younger than me this time. In spite of that, I pretty much picked up where I left off decades ago. For the time being however I have had to discontinue lessons due to economic concerns. Just wanted to re-dip my toes in it a little. There's a lot more to learn however. I've digressed a bit in my recollections of my old piano teacher. Last time I saw her alive was perhaps the first year after my Dad's passing during the second half 2012. I had already left the Pacific Northwest regrettably so. By then it was obvious the years had taken their toll. I don't know whether or not she was still teaching then. In hindsight possibly not anymore as she had become a bit hard of hearing. She was still her pleasant self however. As I think about the years after my last lesson with her, I can recall at least a couple of occasions when I said that I would come back for lessons. This time I would be paying for the lessons instead of my mother. It was a reasonable amount per month. I regret not following through on that promise.
