Since joining a group of singers, all of which eat music for breakfast I was finding myself having immense difficulty learning not only the melody but the words of the choral sheet music required because not only do I not read music but I don't read Latin either...
One of the singers asked if I would like to meet up and go through the words so that I would know not only the pronunciation of the words but also their meaning. Although I had previously said Yes, I didn't really want to do it as it required some sort of effort on my behalf. Not only would I have to get the car out, set the Sat Nav, find this persons house but I was in for a lesson of sorts and lessons of any kind can quickly turn me back in to a teenager finding excuses to bunk off whatever class I was supposed to be in. On the plus side, this woman, Beth seemed really nice and did only live a five minutes drive away. It was something I was dreading. I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to commit to it. I wanted to stay at home and work on the computer with the occasional pat on the head for the dog for company. Finally, the time came and I could put it off no longer so I grabbed my keys and headed out to find Beth's house. Actually, I found it very quickly because it turned out to be even closer than I thought! I knocked at the door, took a deep breath and when the door opened ventured inside. Beth had a bandage round her knee holding an ice pack and it turned out she had fallen whilst out shopping that morning rather badly and was finding it difficult to put too much weight on it. Well, that made me feel guilty - not only was she feeling poorly but Beth was still happy to help me out with the dreaded sheet music. We sat down on the sofa, got the music out and began going through each word and each piece of music with Beth first saying the word and me repeating it. Next I had to decipher a piece by myself. I felt such a twit trying to work it all out and kept stumbling over the words but with Beth's encouragement soon began to almost enjoy working everything out feeling very pleased with myself when I managed to accomplish whole sentences in Latin.
Finally it was over and I thanked Beth and stood to leave.
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
I almost declined but somehow I felt my mouth saying "Yes I would love some tea." What was I doing? I had already been there for over an hour and I certainly didn't want to do any more on the music. Sometimes I find that my brain becomes overloaded with too much information and acts like a wheelbarrow - it simply tips it out to make room for something else. I really wanted to hang on to the information because it was essential to me carrying on with the singers. I followed Beth into the kitchen and watched as she made a pot of tea for two. I smiled as Beth put the timer on the oven on for a few minutes so the tea would be perfect. That was a bit like her I thought, with everything having to be done the right way. Beth has never struck me as an emotional person but then,
"I am so pleased you came round today. If you hadn't I would have just sat here feeling a bit down and very fed up with just me to talk to. You've cheered me up no end."
You see, in my selfishness, I hadn't thought as to what effect it would have on Beth to not turn up. In fact, to be honest, I had given her no thought at all. Beth is not an elderly,person and not a typically lonely person as she works four days a week and here she was thanking me for keeping her company.
I have to say that this was a bit of an ice breaker in a way because we then sat down and chatted about anything that came to mind for a further hour and I enjoyed every bit of her company as Beth could be quite entertaining with stories of her grown up children.
So, next time you want to cancel on someone, have a think about the other person and how they have put aside their time to see you and what possible effect it could have on them. I didn't know Beth was fed up and when I left she was thinking about joining me for my first venture into a Samba band. I met a good friend today and I am so pleased that I made the right choice in the end.
