For the first time ever,

he asked her to play

just for him. She began

with Chopin. Stretched

out on the sofa, he

listened to the music.

As her fingers danced

on the keys, fluid and 

efficient, gentle and 

powerful, tears began

to flow down his cheeks. 

That beautiful moment,

when a grandmother

evoked such vulnerability

in her 30+ grandson, that

moment suffused with 

exquisite tenderness and 

joy, must be held tightly, 

an antidote to a world 

where violence and meanness 

has become the norm.

(This is for my friend Carol, an accomplished pianist and wonderful woman, wife, counselor, friend, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.)