“This I Believe...,” music is an outlet. I think this as I sit down on the piano bench. I had lessons to play the piano when I was little and sure, it had been all fun and games, but soon I didn’t have time for it. I didn’t have time to make the music, so i listened to it more often. I found songs that completely explained what was going through my head at certain times. I found music that just in general made me laugh or made me happy or sad. Music is a beautiful way of expressing yourself.

Three years ago, my mom was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. It was tough on all of my family. My mom was becoming weaker, but she never lost hope. She would sometimes not be able to do certain things like pick me up from school, but I’d always come home to her sitting in her room listening to music. Music just gave her encouragement to move on and fight her personal demons. I had to grow up a lot in those three years to help with anything that she couldn’t do anymore, but whenever it got tough on me, I’d always play music. It didn’t matter what genre as long as it had a message, I needed it. I had the yearning to play it again and as I sat down at the untuned piano in my living room, I thought about something my grammy had said when I originally quit playing the piano; “Someday you’re going to miss playing the piano. Just when you want to play it and you can’t, you’re going to think about how you should have stayed with it and listened to me.” I realized that I barely knew what I had been taught. I went online and looked for a song to play. Matthew showed me a song by The Fray that pretty much explained how I felt at the time. It’s called How to Save a Life and it is beautiful on the piano, even on my untuned one. I only got as far as the introduction, but as I look at my mom now and how strong she is and how she has overcome her personal demons, I can’t help but love what music has done for me. It has helped the two of us overcome the struggles of her cancer and given me something special, something I can use when I’m older. Music has given me a way of relaxing myself easily, instead of something dark that I could’ve turned to. As I stare down at the keys and finish playing the introduction to a song that comes so easy to me, I remember How to Save a Life.