There it was, ice cold, sitting on a square napkin on the stand next to the piano. She’d done it again- my amazing student’s mom Cindy had set out a chilled bottle of water for me before every lesson. Just like she has for the last 2 years for every single lesson I’ve ever taught in their house. She has so consistently spoiled me, to the point that it has started to become routine. Sometimes I forget just how lucky I am to have such devoted parents supporting their students.

When I was figuring out the logistics of moving to Nashville in August, I thought long and hard about stopping teaching piano altogether. I realized I just couldn’t bear to say goodbye to amazing people like Cindy, and decided to commute back to St. Louis each week to teach students on Mondays and Tuesdays.

When you invest in kindness, in others-centered behavior, most people won’t even notice. A few people, though, will be really touched and go to the ends of the earth to help you. Even do crazy things like commute 11 hours a week to make sure that you’re taken care of.

I figured it up yesterday- in all the years of Cindy giving me a bottle of water, it’s only cost them 12 dollars total. But to me, it’s worth far more than they’ll ever know.