A Very Nice Thing Happened to Me the Other Day!

[KD Burke]

I posted this on a famous bagpiping forum the other day. It's been suggested to me that the good people here might appreciate the story as well.

FYI, Grade IV is the lowest sanctioned grade for bagpipe competitions. It (roughly) consists of about the bottom 45 to 50% of piping competitors.

Anyway, this is the post I made on Monday:

I freely admit to being a Grade IV hack! I started piping late in life, and I play mostly for my own enjoyment.

I make it a point to refuse paying gigs. There are better pipers than me who deserve the gig more.

That said, I do tune my pipes well, and I try to play musically when on the GHB.

I practice in a downtown parking structure several days a week. It's convenient to where I work, and no one has complained (yet).

Today, a young woman approached me and waited till I had finished my tune before handing me a note.

This is the text:

"I want to thank you genuinely for your bagpipe playing. I lived in Scotland for a few months in college and your playing always takes me back in a good way. it is so lovely to get to the garage on a bad day, or even a mediocre day, and hear bagpipes in the distance.

"Thank you so much and keep playing. You sound great!"


Now I know that she can't tell a good piper from a bad one, but that note means more to me than the last medal I won.