Tag: perfect

Amy had always wanted to learn to play the piano. She imagined herself onstage in a sparkly gown, sitting at the keyboard of a grand piano, playing something complex and beautiful. The audience would be at the edge of their seats, completely silent in awe of her performance. When she hit the last note, there would be a long pause, and then the applause would be like thunder.

And so, after a year of pleading for piano lessons instead of ballet, her mom finally made the switch. Piano was in and ballet was out. The old piano in the corner was now in tune, and Amy had just flown through a month of lessons.

Unfortunately, piano lessons were a bit like ballet, in that you didn’t get very far in a month. Amy had taken ballet lessons for a year, and they still hadn’t learned any neat leaps or twirls. It would be years before any of them would be able to stand on their toes. Many years.

Here she was, a month into piano lessons, and she was just picking out simple tunes with one hand. Forget buying a sparkly dress for the end of the year, she may not be playing in her dream concert at the end of the decade. It was a little discouraging.

Fortunately, Amy knew how to meet her goals a little more quickly. Read More