It's been 2 years!!

-Stathia Orwig

So, just the other day, I was walking close to my old place of work and a mom stopped me on the sidewalk. “Ms. Stathia!! Oh my goodness! It’s so good to see you! You had our son in his first music classes 9 years ago and now he’s 9!!” I totally remembered her! Her son was a tiny and scrawny little boy at 3 or 4 months old who loved music class. They were part of a group of kids that was just a year younger than my Juliette. She told me she had 4 kids now and that she never really made time for music classes with her other ones, but going to music class with her son was one of her favorite memories.

This totally made my day. It has been exactly 2 years since I was terminated from my old work unexpectedly. I had been there for over 15 years. I had raised my babies there while I worked. I taught so many amazing kids from 3 months old all the way to high school graduates. We were a family of faculty and students. It was a special place. But then, changes happened, and I no longer fit there. My vision for a music studio was not shared by the new team. Even though I had already made plans to resign at the end of the semester, I knew it was going to be hard to leave.

Though I would never want to repeat that time in my life, I’ve learned a lot from this experience. As I did a lot of soul searching trying to find answers for why this horrible thing happened, I read somewhere that everyone needs to be fired at some point in their life. Really?!?!  If I could save anyone from that humiliation, I would. At first I believed that only “bad” people got fired; those who didn’t do their job well or were always late or whatever. When I tell people that I was fired, they kind of look at me funny and just laugh like I’ve told them a joke! But once I start thinking about it, being fired has taught me more about life and how I want to run a business than I could ever have dreamed. I am now a bit more guarded and cautious when it comes to trusting people (which is probably a good thing for this naive girl). I also see more clearly how important it is to treat people well and communicate with them. I see that appearances are not always what they seem to be, the truth can be skewed in ways I never dreamed! It has taught me the power of forgiveness, but not to forget.

All of this to say, Music SO Simple got quite the jump start in April of 2016! We are officially 2 years old! I could not be prouder of what Music SO Simple stands for and what it does for all of our students from the little ones to our adults. I am grateful for my experience today. It shoved me out on my own and pushed me to have faith in so many people. It also showed me that so many of you supported me through a very tough time. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Amazing things are happening for Music SO SImple!