A Happy Groundhog's Day

The passing of time is deeply mysterious, always astonishing and perpetually just beyond our understanding. I write this from the pink chair in this sacred space where I witnessed and lived miracle after miracle— the music room of The San Francisco School. Over 50 years ago, I taught my first class here. 

Somewhere deep in my closet are the planning books from each of the 45 years I taught here and I’m curious what I did my very first class. There’s a good chance I played the game Old King Glory, inviting the “first one, the second one, the third to follow me” without ever imagining how long that line would march on into the future and how many children would be following behind me. 

And so I played the game again today in the same place, with the same tune, the same spirit, but of course not the same. One cannot step into the same river twice or twenty thousand times. But the river itself is a constant known, the cool, refreshing waters as welcome as ever, the soothing sounds of its flow music to the ears. The teacher—me—singing the song with a body traversed by time and etched with its markings, but the energy and delight and vision mostly unchanged, except perhaps deepened and heightened. The children all re-incarnations of each other, kids I recognize after two-minutes of music-making and mostly delightfully so. Even the edgy ones bring a smile to my face as I secretly think, “I know you. That behavior ain’t gonna happen here!”

 

Being back in my room is a version of Groundhog’s Day, but with the twist that that perpetually renewing day is just moving from joy to joy. No big lesson I need to learn beyond, “Keep going!” And instead of the same un-aging people every day, now it’s the son or daughter of the student I taught 30 years ago, looking —and sometimes acting—pretty similar to their parent. Or the grandchild of teachers I taught alongside carrying their character forward, of course, in new variations. 

 

I don’t know what I did in a previous life to deserve such everlasting and continuously renewing happiness, but I am grateful beyond measure to accept it.  Tomorrow, on to Day 3!