Connections

I've always been a firm believer of maintaining connections, because no matter how brief or how long we know a person, they have already imprinted onto our minds (sounding a bit like Jacob from Twilight now, haha!). Unfortunately, most people I've come to know aren't as diligent as I am in this area, so I tend to have very few friends and many acquaintances instead.

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My morning didn't start off too well.
At 3am, my throat was so itchy that I felt like attaching a steel brush to the end of a stick and pushing it down just to get to the itch. Then came a sneezing fit for 30 minutes.
THANK GOD FOR COCONUT OIL! Put me back to sleep in an instant till the sun rose.

So, I wake up for work, feeling all tired and zombiefied. Was quite impressed that I could condition myself to look and feel like any human being who has had at least 10 hours of rest.
And all the while just smiling to put on makeup. It helps, really!

The dreaded office mails just kills that positivity most of the time and after just 2 hours, I felt drained.
THANK GOD FOR LUNCH! Had a mini mentoring session with a young Padawan. She is adorable.

And THEN, a message sent from FB came through on my phone.

RECONNECT
Last week, I received a Facebook Friend request from a lady who looked like she was in her 40s.
Her FB name wasn't a familiar one, so I clicked to see if we had any mutual friends. None.
Clicked on her profile pic and it was a selfie of her with an opened piano.
Strange, I thought. Maybe she was some random person who wanted to befriend people on FB.
For some reason, her face told me that she was a nice person who was a caring individual too.
Not too bothered, I neither Accepted nor Rejected her Friend Request.

I seem to do that a lot these days - just leaving the Friend Requests be -  maybe with the intention of making new connections later on.

Boy, was I glad I kept her on the Friend Request List!

The message read,
Haha, you still have the same smile :)
From your piano teacher, Ms. Koh.

I was a bit stunned. Like a ghost from the past had just appeared on my phone. So unexpected. Odd. Bewildered. Shocking!

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You see, when I was 7 years of age, my parents took me out for a walk and we happened to pass a Technics Music School.
I don't remember what happened but something drew me to the glass, and I was glued to it, literally.
As my little hands pressed against the clear glass, I caught myself staring at a girl my size sitting atop a high chair and her little fingers danced along the polished white and black piano keys. Beside her was a young lady with long wavy hair who had such an encouraging and approving smile as the little girl played a piece of music.

Little did I know, my parents had walked on (and around the block, mind you!) and according to Mum (they obviously forgot me), they found me glued to the glass even after they had returned.
Mum found it amusing that I was so focused on the sight that she opened the door and asked me to go in. I was a bit shocked and held her hand as she led me in.

My eyes were quite fixated on the teacher, whose name I found out, was Ms. Koh and she was such a pretty angel :) Mum had just signed me up for piano lessons and I was very firm with who I wanted as my teacher at 7 years old - I remembered telling my mum that I only wanted her (pointing at Ms. Koh) to be my teacher. When Mum said, "Yes, she is your teacher", I was ecstatic!

My first lesson was about getting to know the piano and learning the name of the keys.
I remember vividly the number of sticker sheets Ms. Koh had at every lesson.
She let me choose the kind of stickers I wanted for conquering each page of the book too!
Loved her to bits.

After a year or so, the Music School closed down but I continued my lessons at Ms. Koh's house which was just down the road from mine. FATE, I tell you. I loved learning the piano under her wing. She was the most Patient and Creative human being I had ever met and I really enjoyed my lessons. Looked forward to every one of them, even if I didn't know how to do my theory papers.
But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.
After 4 years of the most memorable piano lessons, Ms. Koh announced that she was not going to teach after she gave birth to her baby. I was the most devastated 10 year-old that day, I swear.

Even typing this now, I feel tears welling up for the emotions that revealed itself when she told Mum the news are still very much etched into my memory bank. So much anguish and hurt. Felt like I was a child being abandoned by my mum.

In any case, the Teachers that came along after Ms. Koh were either:
1) Trying too hard to entertain me with their funny antics (and giving me an English name for some reason),
2) Kept getting pregnant,
3) Too strict till I hated piano (she was just demotivating and useless), and
4) Too relaxed till I became complacent.

There will never be another Ms. Koh.

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I replied Ms. Koh's message, bewildered, and asked how did she find me on FB?
She mentioned that she was looking for a Friend and somehow my name popped up and she recognised my face - which I find pretty incredible cos the last time we met was 20 years ago!!!
INSANE!
We talked and I found out that she's still pretty much into music and is doing it professionally now. SO AMAZING!

Can't wait to catch up with her when she gets back from her trip!!