When my fingers touch the keys ...

Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. 

I love to play and can sit at the piano for hours. 

This is because of Mrs. Horn and it all began when I was seven ... 

 My mom told me one day that she wanted me to start taking piano lessons. I wasn't thrilled about the idea then, but now, I'm so thankful she insisted I was going to at least try piano for a while. 

My first teacher was a lady we knew from church, Mrs. Susan Clark. And I took from her for about a year before her family moved. When she left, Mrs. Susan suggested Mrs.Lois Horn be my new teacher. Again, I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I found myself going to her house every week and quickly realized she was SERIOUS about music. You see, Mrs. Horn was Mrs. Horn and she didn't mess around. If you weren't willing to count, work hard, count some more, and put your best effort into the music, she wasn't interested in being your teacher. She poured her heart and soul into the music and into teaching. 

She was a wise woman and she's taught me so many things over the years. 

My fingers have always loved fast, bangy pieces and I tend to play them like a freight train about to run off the tracks. Mrs. Horn was forever insisting that I "reign that adrenaline in" and use a metronome.

She purposely gave me slow, soft pieces and told me "anyone can play loud, but only the best can play softly." 

I remember when I was about sixteen I was in love with Chopin Nocturnes and had talked Mrs. Horn into teaching me to play one of my favorites. After a few months, I was still struggling with playing the piece with enough emotion. Mrs. Horn looked at me that day and said "I don't think you'll be able to play this piece properly until you're at least forty; you won't have experienced enough of life until then."  

Through the years, Mrs. Horn became not only my beloved piano teacher, but also a sweet friend to our family. When I first started taking from her, it was only Madeline and I. 

I remember being so excited when Elizabeth was born to take her to meet Mrs. Horn for the first time.

 Then a few years later, Jubilee, was brought for her first visit. 

And finally NoraJane. 

She loved seeing the girls every week and watching them grow up. 

The years rolled by and eventually Elizabeth began coming for her own lessons. 

For the last three or four years, my mom drove Mrs. Horn to dialysis every week after our lessons. Her health wasn't always the best and we missed lessons every now and then because she was in the hospital. 

I remember being surprised when she got out that she was still going to teach. A few years later, her eyesight began to go and she became blind in one eye, but she still kept teaching. Even after the dialysis shunt in her arm rendered her unable to play anymore, she still kept teaching. Mrs. Horn was a fighter and it didn't matter if her hands could no longer glide across the keys like she wanted them to, she loved music and wasn't about to give it up. 

She had a will of iron and there were so many days when I wondered how in the world she was still with us. 

I was awed over and over again by her stamina and willingness to share what she knew and loved with those around her. 

--------------------------------------------

On Saturday, my mom got a call telling her that Mrs. Horn had died. 

I was shocked and a little dumbfounded at the news.

Mrs. Horn has always been there and no matter how sick she was she never let it get the best of her. 

But this time, she was really gone ... I would no longer see her sweet face or hear her voice. 

This was the lady who taught me what she knew and shared an amazing gift with me ... 

the intangible gift of music. 

Its something I use every day and part of who I am. 

And now, every time my fingers touch the keys, I think of Mrs. Horn and that incredible gift.