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Today I learned that a former coworker is near the end (Hospice) due to terminal cancer (lung).  His former boss informed me that during his visit today, the coworker had mentioned me and wished to hear me play piano again.  If you’ve following my blog for the last few years or so you’ll probably remember the blog entry and the video clip of me playing Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3 at the company Christmas Party (partly against my will, but also an opportunity for me to exert my will) talent show in December 2003.  My coworker and his wife (a former model, not that it’s important to note here) were in attendance that night (he went onstage and read a poem that he had written) and I guess liked my performance enough to seek my services as a piano player at their New Year’s Eve bash a couple weeks later for $200 (the hardest $200 dollars I’ve ever earned…luckily, there’s online poker now).  His wife made me play the Liebestraum at least 3-4 times (mind you the the much of the audience were patiently waiting for works by Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd)!  As I was leaving that night, the coworker mentioned how one of his neighbors across the cul-de-sac once was a trans-pacific Airline pilot and had died of cancer recently and that’s why that house was up for sale.  Sort of eerie coincidence, I guess.

I thought for awhile about the request to visit him tomorrow and also play piano for him, but at the end I reluctantly agreed to do it.   Not only am I rusty with a lot of pieces (especially the Liebestraum, which I haven’t played in over 2 years!), but visiting someone you know in his deathbed is something completely new to me.  And to be honest, I’m somewhat nervous.  I think I’ll play a couple slow, soft pieces–like Chopin’s “Left Hand” etude in G-sharp minor and end with the Raindrop prelude.