Dear old friend

Dear friends of piano music,

I am pretty sad today, and I will tell you the sad story, because I couldn't write anything else today. A dear old friend of mine lived in a house with her husband, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. The husband had a heart condition and became demented as a result, she had to look after him like after a small child. He drove off on his bike, for example, only to tip over somewhere, she always had to keep him from doing things like that. Once when she got home he was just about to cut the garbage can in half with a large saw. When he had died, the daughter and her family also moved away, so that for many years she lived all alone in this house that was previously so full of life. She fell last winter and needed a new hip. When an infection set in after initially going well, she decided not to go to the hospital again, but to die of the infection. I'm afraid that's a pretty commonplace story, but it's incredibly sad. Those who get old mostly lose their health, their relatives, their friends, leaving behind loneliness and pain.

I was similarly shocked by the story of Patrick Bronte, the father of the poets Charlotte, Emily and Anne. He lost his wife and all his six children at a much younger age and was left alone. He was a pastor, so one can hope that his faith has helped him. There are models in the Bible, perhaps best known is the story of Job, who lost not only his health and his fortune. his ten children also died, but his faith was so strong that he steadfastly trusted in God. And so God gave him back his health, twice as much fortune, and once again Job became the father of ten children. This story is amazing in a fairytale way - at least I can hardly imagine that everything that was lost was given to Job a second time. But it is even more difficult for me to imagine that someone can be so strong and unshakable that these blows of fate, which are among the worst things that can happen to a person, cannot destroy them.

My dear friend also believed in God. But everything has its time. There is a time to fight and be brave, as well as to say goodbye to life because you don't want to fight anymore and feel that it is time to leave. That, too, has to be endured, like Job's blows of fate, with respect and humility. I wish you all the best anyway!

Kerstin