John and I attended an organ recital the other day. The featured musician was a young woman not yet done school who was younger than ninety nine per cent of the 500 people participating in the organ convention. I did see one child, another organ student, and a young man whose wedding is in a month. But apparently the lion's share of organ aficionados are in the second half of life. 

The first thirty minutes included pieces she needed no written music for. It was just her and the keys. She seemed completely absorbed in the music. Maybe she forgot we were there at all. Music can do that to you. 

It is a safe bet that she has logged a few thousand hours practicing. No one masters an instrument by reading about it, or listening to composers. 

My twins were recruited to help cater dinner for the attendees of the organ convention. There was some confusion at first about whether it centered around bodily donations, or ivories. Feeding half a thousand hungry folks in a time crunch can ratchet up the pressure. The girls were part of a team that plopped an entree, mashed potatoes, vegetables and a cookie on a plate. Once the potatoes ran out they substituted the falafel meant for vegetarians. When that was depleted they whipped up some noodles. 

But when they ran out of cookies, there was no dessert. 

What aggravated my girls was finding untouched food on the plates they bussed, when they had disappointed other diners who wanted more. One man looked longingly at the cookies, and asked to scrape up the crumbs left on the tray. But all of the customers were polite. 

There are some commodities that have no limits. The amount of time you can log practicing comes to mind. Your capacity for enjoying music is another. The collective appreciation of the organist's skills was not diminished by how many people squeezed into the pews. Anyone with ears was free to be moved. 

There are days when I reach the limits of my patience. I certainly have moments when I run out of time. 

But there is nothing to stop me from logging more hours practicing to be kind.