Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them. -Albert Schweitzer
Thursdays are the days that I do nearly all the errands I need to do. It all started with scheduling piano lessons for the Princess. Her teacher has been a close friend to me since we first met over ten years ago, before the Princess was born. I will never forget when Trudy came to see my baby for the first time, she looked at her hands and said "Piano fingers." Such things I tucked away in my heart, as I had prayed for two things that I really wanted to have my child do and one was the piano.At three years old the Princess was begging to learn how to play the piano, but I could not find a nearby piano teacher willing to take a child so young. At the same time, Trudy had been telling me of a 4½ year old boy, who had just started lessons with her. I remember saying that I thought she never took a child under six years old and rarely under seven. She replied she had found a program called "Music for Little Mozarts" and she was enjoying it. I tucked that away in my heart as well for a short time.
Six months later the Princess' fourth birthday was upon us and Trudy was still enjoying teaching young students, so I asked her if she would consider taking my daughter as a student as well after the upcoming spring recital, because I knew how busy that would make her. My Princess would be the youngest student she had ever taken and she said that she would love it. So, just after my daughter turned four years old, we decided that the Princess would be her first student of the day on Thursday afternoons, thus she began half hour piano lessons with my good friend—who lives one hour away.
Yes, I drive two hours every Thursday just for a half-hour piano lesson. I decided that since we were out anyway that we could go grocery shopping on that day as well, since I shop at two health food stores for organic foods. The two stores are rather close to each other, although about 40 minutes away from my home. I also do some bill paying, stopping at a post office, and any other shopping in the general triangular vicinity between home, the health food stores, and Trudy's place. Sometimes that includes consignment sales or homeschool store or a warehouse book sale. Sometimes we go outside of the triangle for a trip to the farm where we get raw cow's milk. Most of the time, the Princess eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple on the way rather than stopping for lunch.
This all worked out pretty well when we had two vehicles, but when my husband lost his job over a year ago, we also lost the company van. Now we have only one vehicle, a mini-van. Thursdays are well and good when he flies out of town to work, which was most of the time, but when he is home to work locally as he has been lately, it becomes a bit more of a problem. We tried renting a car for the day, but recently all the car rental places nearest to us closed. With limited options, we have decided to get up early to drive my husband to work so that I have the van all day and then pick him up afterward. That adds about two more hours of driving on our Thursdays. This is more difficult for the Princess, I think, and it requires a bit more planning for me, but we have managed our Thursdays well.
Now that the Princess is nearly eight years old, any piano teacher would take her and I probably could find a good one closer to home, but some things are far more important than convenience. Trudy has been her teacher for almost four years and has brought the love of music as well as the learning of it to my daughter. She is one of my closest friends, someone who shares the love of the Lord with me, and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to contribute financially to her, which the Lord provided even when my husband was out of work.
Most Thursdays I have far to go, but some things are just worth the extra miles.
Thank you, my Lord, for providing the means required for us to pursue piano lessons and for a friend, who not only teaches my daughter, but who has taught me through her faith in You as well.
