Dreams come true

We were staying at a Hilton on the north side of Chicago and had just finished dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. My daughter was radiant. The devoted attention of both handsome young waiters on duty was clear testament to that. Chicago is her favorite city and she was in her element. Our dinner in the restaurant was surprisingly delicious and we had enjoyed good conversation throughout the meal.

Our plans were to hit the hot tub right away. She was already wearing her suit underneath the chic little black dress she’d worn to dinner, but I needed to go back to the room to change into mine. We’d checked out the hot tub and found it crowded with guests, so we were in no hurry to return. If we delayed a bit we might have it all to ourselves.

On our way to the elevators I heard my daughter’s little cry of surprise and I turned in time to see her drop her bags by the wall and run to a little piano sitting in one corner of the Hilton lobby. I was delighted. Any opportunity to hear her play is a gift to me. As she ran her fingers over the keys I found myself remembering what I’d told her when she first started taking lessons at the age of six.

I’d said if she didn’t like playing piano we’d look at other avenues for artistic expression, but she loved the piano from the start. I remember telling her that someday she would be able to walk into a party where a piano happened to be and just blow her friends away, playing the way she did. It was one of those little dreams a mother has…for her to stick with it long enough to be good enough to enchant people when she played. For her to see how talented she is and how unique her talent, was my mother’s dream.

I’ve always been fascinated by those who could play an instrument and admire the determination and skill it takes to be good at it. As it turns out, my daughter was really good at it. And when she plays, people are enchanted indeed.

As she played in that lobby the other night I leaned against a wall and took it all in. Christine is a classical pianist. She is fiercely devoted to her piano teacher, who became a sort of surrogate mother/counselor to her during our divorce. And music was her therapy. To this day, all the turbulent and tranquil emotions of those difficult years pour through her fingers into the keys when she plays and anyone listening can feel her delicate, heartfelt interpretation in their soul.

As the notes of a Beethoven piece began to drift through the air I couldn’t help but peek around the lobby to see if anyone else could hear the magic. Everyone could. There were the two young waiters from the restaurant, making excuses to walk through in order to see who was making that beautiful noise. To see their curiosity turn to surprise and delight was my dream-come-true moment. If she had seen their faces, no doubt the whole thing would have fallen apart in self-consciousness, but she didn’t see and she played on.

The desk clerks left the desk to look around the corner.
I saw a couple of guests pause on their way to the elevators, listening to the complicated music emanating from our formerly silent corner of the lobby before moving on.
Three nicely-dressed businesspeople had been strolling toward the hotel’s back entrance when my daughter sat down to play. They stopped short of the door, though; the two ladies appeared to admiring the art on the hotel walls while the gentleman leaned against the wall, his eyes half-closed, listening raptly to my daughter’s music.

As the final notes of Mozart’s “Pathetique Sonata” were quietly laid down, this small audience began to applaud. Christine turned around, startled to find them there. She collected her belongings while I collected compliments. It wasn’t until later that I realized one of my little mother’s dreams had just come true for my daughter. She had enchanted strangers with her musical soul and in return they had fed that very soul with appreciation for the music she loves so much and plays so well.

I move forward with a slightly different determination myself after that evening. I move through life with the certainty that sometimes dreams do indeed come true, and when they do, life is sweet.