If Martin and I were slighted last week at piano lesson, this Wednesday we definitely were not.

We arrived one minute late, at 5:31 pm. Jason was talking with the needy mother whose son’s lesson precedes Martin’s. As we entered the lobby, I heard that mother saying, “Yeah, well, okaaaaaay…,” as I know her to do when she wants to ask additional silly questions. Forgive my judgment on her questions; she wasted a significant chunk of Martin’s last lesson pursuing the topic of whether her son should wear earplugs in band practice, and pursuing it with a piano teacher who pretty much made clear, up front, that he has no idea whether her son should wear earplugs during band practice. This week, Jason was having none of that. Before Needy Mom even wrapped her “okaaaaaay,” Jason said, “Great! My next student just arrived, so I’ll see you next week.”

Needy Mom looked a little surprised. She said, “Oh! Okaaaaaay…,” which sounded kind of like, “You say that, but actually I’m not done with you yet,” at which point Jason said, “´Bye, then. Hey, Martin!” and took off after Martin, who was already headed toward the lesson space.

Hurray, I thought. Martin wins.

Thirty minutes later, Jason returned Martin to me. His report? “Martin was a little out of it this week”—that’s true! Martin was super-spacey yesterday!—“so we just worked some more on learning the names of the notes he already plays. Sooner or later, it will sink in.”

Yep. As long as we give Martin his share of every opportunity, eventually it will all sink in.