Ronda's story

The past 5 years had been nothing but loss, illness and death.

The moment is burned into my mind when the doctor put both hands on my shoulders and said, “Ronda, the man you married is gone.” I’m positive all of you have experienced some moment when the arc of your life stops short. Everything familiar disappears; you’re suddenly facing a horrifying new reality. Everyone around me agreed I couldn’t live alone, and social workers kept showing me places they assured me I would love. I hated them (the places, not the social workers). So I moved to one, still depressed, and still convinced that the arc of my life was rapidly going downhill. I looked forward to nothing.

About a week later, I was walking down the halls towards my apartment when I heard one of the most beautiful sounds in the world: someone was practicing the cello! I stood outside the door, hardly able to breath. A few minutes later, out came a young woman, with warm brown eyes, carrying her cello on her back. And that’s how I met Lauren, “Oh, you’re new” she said “Do you like music?” I not only liked it, I explained, I was a pianist, a long, long time ago. “Then you can help us with our chamber music,” she said enthusiastically. But I told her that not only had I never played chamber music, but I’d never even seen a score. You can coach us, she said. No, I can’t, I protested. I’ve coached actors, and worked in theater, but I knew nothing about what you’re telling me I can do. You’ll figure it out she answered, with complete confidence. With that, she handed me the score of a Brahms trio, and said we’d meet the following week. So I said to myself, ok....I’m 85, I know zip about what this young woman is asking me to do, but why don’t I just give it a shot? I began listening to recordings and attending Iris Piano Trio rehearsals.

And that, folks, is how Lauren and the Iris Music Project gave me back my life. I looked up performances of the trio on Youtube, took the score, and tried to follow the notes of three instruments instead of my familiar piano scores. At first I was lost...it isn’t easy to learn something new. But it took all of my attention, concentration and after two hours I actually could follow it. I cannot describe how this changed my life, not only because rehearsals are my favorite things, but I discovered that the sun hadn’t set. The arc of my life began to go up again. And this is what the Iris Music Project does; they encourage people to try new things and be engaged in relevant discussions. This is, in no uncertain terms, a miracle.

Coleridge said it best, when he wrote:
“Life is but a thought, so think I will that youth and I are house-mates still.”