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True Story

 

>

 

> At the prodding of my friends, I am writing this story. My name is

 

> Mildred Hondorf. I am a former elementary school music teacher from Des

 

> Moines, Iowa.

 

>

 

> I've always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons--something

 

> I've done for over 30 years.

 

>

 

> Over the years I found that children have many levels of musical

 

> ability. I've never had the pleasure of having a prodigy, though I have

 

> taught some talented students. However I've also had my share of what I

 

> call "musically challenged" pupils. One such student was Robby.

 

>

 

> Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single Mom) dropped him off

 

> for his first piano le lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys),

 

> begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby.

 

>

 

> But Robby said that it had always been his mother's dream to hear him

 

> play the piano.

 

>

 

> So I took him as a student.

 

>

 

> Well, Robby began with his piano lessons, and from the beginning I

 

> thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked

 

> the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully

 

> reviewed his scales and some elementary pieces that I require all my

 

> students to learn. Over the months he tried and tried while I listened

 

> and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each weekly lesson

 

> he would always say, "My Mom's going to hear me play someday."

 

>

 

> But it seemed hopeless. He just did not have any inborn ability. I only

 

> knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in

 

> her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled but never

 

> stopped in.

 

>

 

> Then one day Robby st opped coming to our lessons. I thought about

 

> calling him but assumed, because of his lack of ability, that he had

 

> decided to pursue something else. I also was glad that he stopped

 

> coming. He was a bad advertisement for my teaching!

 

>

 

> Several weeks later I mailed to the student's homes a flyer on the

 

> upcoming recital. To my surprise Robby (who received a flyer) asked me

 

> if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for

 

> current pupils and because he had dropped out he really did not qualify.

 

>

 

> He said that his Mom had been sick and unable to take him to piano

 

> lessons but he was still practicing.

 

>

 

> "Miss Hondorf...I've just got to play!" he insisted. I don't know what

 

> led me to allow him to play in the recital. Maybe it was his

 

> persistence, or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would

 

> be all right.

 

>

 

> The night for the recital came. The high school gymnasium was packed

 

> with parents, friends and relatives. I put Ro bby up last in the program

 

> before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing

 

> piece. I thought that any damage he would do would come at the end of

 

> the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my

 

> "curtain closer."

 

>

 

> Well, the recital went off without a hitch. The students had been

 

> practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were

 

> wrinkled and his hair looked like he'd run an eggbeater through it.

 

>

 

> "Why didn't he dress up like the other students? " I thought."Why

 

> didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special

 

> night?"

 

>

 

> Robby pulled out the piano bench and he began. I was surprised when he

 

> announced that he had chosen Mozart's Concerto # 1 in C. Major. I was

 

> not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys,

 

> they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to

 

> fortissimo . from allegro to virtuoso. His suspended chords that Mozart

 

> demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by a

 

> person his age. After six and a half minutes, he ended in a grand

 

> crescendo and everyone was on their feet in wild applause.

 

>

 

> Overcome and in tears I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in

 

> joy. "I've never heard you play like that Robby! How'd you do it?"

 

>

 

> Through the microphone Robby explained: "Well Miss Hondorf...

 

> remember I told you my Mom was sick? Well, actually, she had cancer and

 

> passed away this morning. And well.... she was born deaf, so tonight was

 

> the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special."

 

>

 

> There wasn't a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from

 

> Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care,

 

> I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy and I thought to

 

> myself how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil.

 

>

 

> No, I've never had a prodigy -- but that night I became a prodigy..

 

> of Robby's. He was the teacher and I was the pupil.

 

>

 

> For it is he that taught me the meaning of perseverance and love, and

 

> believing in yourself, and maybe even taking a chance in someone and you

 

> don't know why.

 

>

 

> This is especially meaningful to me since, after serving in Desert

 

> Storm, Robby was killed in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah

 

> Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995, where he was

 

> reportedly....playing the piano.

 

>

 

> And now, a footnote to the story. If you are thinking about forwarding

 

> this message, you are probably thinking about which people on your

 

> address list aren't the "appropriate"ones to receive this type of

 

> message. The person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a

 

> difference. We all have thousands of opportunities a day to help realize

 

> God's plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people

 

> present us with a choice: Do we pass along a spark of the Divine? Or do

 

> we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a bit colder in the

 

> process?

 

Chichi

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Guest guest

Dear guest,

 

I regret to inform you that you have fallen for another one of those insidious Internet hoaxes.

 

It's a good idea to do a keyword search for any of these type of stories that are posted on the Internet.

 

I have done just that and have come up with a number of web sites exposing this hoax. Here is one of the web sites:

 

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/robby.htm

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