Goodbye isn't so bad

Yesterday and today, I said goodbye to three very important people in my life. Three students of mine have graduated. They are really an end of an era for me.

They have been in my studio for 10 years. I have watched them grow up, and they are not only my students, but my friends. One is going to music school, one to art school, and one to film school. Three very artistic and creative young people of whom I am so incredibly proud.

It was hardest saying goodbye to the artist. He and his family are moving back to Sweden. I most likely won't see him again. We had dinner with them this past weekend, and they gave Little Bird the Brio train set that belonged to their boys. Even better than the gift though was watching the two teenage boys and my one little baby boy play with the trains on the floor together. They were so sweet.

The director isn't going too far from home for now. She'll be at North Carolina School of the Arts. She could be going to the school of the arts for any of their disciplines really. She acts, sings, plays guitar, composes, is a visual artist, and isn't just dabbling in them all. She's really good at them all. Today she gave me a Muse CD/DVD as a goodbye present. I love that she gives me things that she loves.

The pianist is going into music therapy. She has been student teaching at a music school for children from low-income families for two years now. The beautiful thing is that twelve years ago, she started out as a student in that school. Her mother is amazing. They immigrated from Turkey and have built successful businesses. She has her mother's focus and an immense amount of talent to back it up. I know I'm not really saying goodbye to her. I just won't see her every week anymore.

I invest myself deeply in my students. There are a few students who I invested too much of myself in and who let me down, but for the most part, whatever I invested was returned much greater. Especially by these three.

I won't be taking on any new students for awhile. I've got things to create. Albums to record and most importantly, babies to grow.

Meet Butterbean. He's due January 26, 2010, on Little Bird's 2nd birthday. We got to meet him today. He said, "swish swish swish swish," which translates into, "I love you, Mama." At least, that's what I'm going with.