The time he didn’t let me quit, a thank you to my father

How can you say thank you for something that has value greater than that of gold? We sat together in front of the glossy finish piano with a few scratches on it from our childhood plays. He would flip the pages for me, tap the beat with his foot, point with his finger to the measure I was struggling with. Day after day the routine continued. One of those long stretching afternoons when I thought the time at the piano would never end I turned to my dad and asked him why. Why do I have to go through this painful exercise weekly, why I can’t just try something else for enlightenment? My dad in his ever patient and calm way turned to the wearied nine year old in the red Adidas outfit, who never brushed her hair and dreamt of nothing but riding her bike all day long and simply answered, “I don’t want you to learn to give up. I want you to finish what you start and not quit.” I was the one who begged my parents to send me to music school for piano lessons, but it was not anywhere close to being as rosy as I imaged. I hated practice, the slow Bach pieces which I thought were composed to make the students life miserable, the teacher who waited for the clock to strike 1 as much as I did. That answer from my dad changed a lot of things for me, I still hated playing scales, but I was all the sudden given a mission, which not only bore me through long hours of practice, but through many other times in my life I wanted to quit. Over the years there were many ups and downs, but hardly any quits. My dad was right, he still is. The perseverance and the backbone he built into me at that piano was monumental for me. I don’t think my life would ever have been the same and hey I even love the piano now, just maybe not Bach. A thank you cannot express it all. Happy Father’s Day, dad! It’s so special to be your daughter.