Seconds, minutes, hours, days or maybe weeks later – Joyce had no idea how much time had passed when violin music reached her and brought her back from far away.
I know this piece. It is one of my two favorite violin pieces. I began teaching a simplified version of this piece to Christelle one year ago when she was five. She always enjoyed her violin lessons, but she also liked to have Mommy’s attention all to herself. And Joyce let the beautiful sad violin music carry her away…
Soon Joyce was carried away from the present, back to another memory of her lovely little daughter Christelle.
***
Joyce was sitting up in her bed reading a book when six-year-old Christelle entered the bedroom with a big proud smile on her face – and a small cup of coffee in her hand.
“I made you coffee, but I only brought a small cup because I know that you do not like to drink much coffee at night. And I picked the cup with the beautiful flowers because I know that you like flowers.” She put the coffee on the nightstand and gave Joyce a hug.
“Thank you so much, Christelle. Wow, you made coffee all by yourself?!” Joyce asked, playing with her little girl’s long hair.
“Yes, I did,” Christelle assured her.
Joyce played with her girl’s beautiful hair, braiding it with pink and green ribbons; afterward she held her little hand and began singing to her:
“Once upon a time, a little girl with moonlight in her eyes put her hands in mine and said she loved me so… But that was once upon a time very long ago.” She stopped singing to enjoy just holding her daughter.
Soon the silence was interrupted.
“When I marry, can I wear your wedding dress?”
Oh, my goodness, that’s a big jump into the future; thought Joyce smiling to herself. “Of course, you can wear it, but maybe when you are older, you will want to have a dress of your own choosing. Besides, how do you know that you will like my wedding dress? It’s been packed away since before you were born.”
“Oh, it is so beautiful, Mommy. I’ve seen it in your wedding pictures!”
Joyce looked down at her daughter’s smiling face.
“You lost another tooth today; this makes two altogether. That’s wonderful, Christelle! It means that you are growing.”
“I don’t want to grow up,” Christelle protests.
“And Why not?”
“I want to stay your little girl,” she declared with a frown.
“You will always be my little girl, even when you are old and gray.” Joyce smiled to her daughter, thinking to herself, you can never predict children. One minute she is going to marry, and the other she wants to stay a little girl.
***
Suddenly the music stopped. Seconds later a soft small hand touched hers, and Joyce heard a lovely young girl’s voice saying: “You taught me how to play violin many years ago, and you played for me for many years. Now it is my turn to play for you.” The girl’s voice trembles, and Joyce heard her cry. Then the sweet girl whispered softly but firmly: “Come back to us.”
Who was this young girl? Joyce had no idea, but she wanted to thank this lovely young lady and let her know how grateful she was for her visit and how beautifully she played… very similar to how Joyce would have played this piece. Yet try as she might, Joyce couldn’t even utter a single word. Then she heard that same voice saying: “I truly believe that she is trying to speak! Praise God!”
Joyce cried and cried, yet only two tears escaped the corners of her closed eyes and rolled down her cheeks. The young girl smiled, then began to shed tears of her own.