Highest Possible Praise

I had dinner with my flute students' family last night, while Linny Jane was teaching piano to various members of the household. My nine year-old asked me, "What's your dream?"

"What do you mean?" I responded.

"What do you want to do? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Well," I said, "I would really like to be a professional flutist and be able to teach in colleges."

"That's neat," my student replied. "I want to be a teacher, too. A music teacher. Since I started taking flute and piano lessons, that's what I want to do."

Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. I can think of no more awesome honor than to have a student tell me they want to teach music because of what they have learned from me. I am both proud of and humbled by that.