Loved orthopedic surgery. On emergency general service now. Life at the speed of sound, most of the time.

Tonight we slowed down for some family time and an impromptu, very informal piano lesson (which necessitated clearing off the piano bench). I reviewed the basics with her and we went over a few simple Dozen a Day exercises (from the pink book, of course). With the attention span of a goldfish (both of us, actually), it was a lesson in futility for the most part. Trying to close on a positive note, I asked her to walk her fingers over the keys and say the letters of them, A through G, before we left the piano to get ready for bed. She started at the highest note and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me! A is over here, and it goes all the way down through Z! You can’t tell me it ends at G – that’s just not how it is!”

I tried. Bless good teachers.