Behind the Story: Music Lessons From the Masters

I vividly remember writing this story. I was living in “The Grange House”, which was definitely not one of the highlights of my life, as you will learn. I had a full time change management consulting contract with Natural Resources Canada at the time. They allowed me to work out of my house as long as I commuted to Ottawa for a week every month to deliver training sessions.  

Because I could work at home most of the time, I then picked up two other contracts, working for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources….together, they added many, many more hours to my schedule. So basically, I was working 2 full time jobs (and going out of my mind, just a wee bit). But I was laden with brutal debt, and I also had 2 children in university. I didn’t have any time or money to spare. 

So I rented an old square timbered farmhouse with a checkered past - in 1992, the owners had been murdered somewhere on the property and their bodies driven into Toronto. The new owners  - family members of the murder victims - were able to rent the farmhouse to an older couple a few years after the incident.  I was the second renter. The somewhat questionable history meant the house was not sought after as a rental unit.

Understandably, the rent they were asking was insignificant.

With my two jobs and low rent, I created a budget that allowed me to, well, just cope. There was nothing to spare. I took out $15 a week to pay for my fiddle sessions, but that was about it. So when I needed to repair my old fiddle, I had no idea how I was going to afford it. But with a kind word from my fiddle teacher, Sandy MacIntyre, I headed down to perhaps the most expensive instrument store in Toronto, and the rest is history. 

Sandy and Ric Heinl shared their grace of spirit and heart with me. I was so very, very lucky!

Read on.