Dr. Vertenstien's Lessons-SOL 3/22/15

I've always kind of looked up to the older kids at my piano teacher's, or Dr. Vertenstien's, lessons and concerts. Dr. Vertenstien is 87 and from Romania, if you need any reference to get an idea what she's like. The older students were always the ones that played the longest and most intricate sounding pieces, the ones that Dr. Vertenstien always stood up for at the end of concerts, and the ones that she would request to play to me or some of the younger students, especially when I was littler, when our lessons overlapped. Normally, they're the juniors or seniors in high school, in their last couple of years with Dr. Vertenstien, and I've always told myself that someday, I'll get that good. But today, I got a chance to be one of these older students.
I've been working on a Schubert piece for the last couple of months, which is kind of a big deal because it is mostly played by older students, and this is my third try to play it, with it being too time-consuming to do before when I didn't have as much of the ability that I do now. It's 10 pages long, densely printed, and takes about 20 minutes to play through once I know it. It's also divided into three sections: the "A" Section, the "B" Section, and the "C" Section. Anyways, when the doorbell rang today at the end of my lesson, and in walked one of Dr. Vertenstien's younger students, Dr. Vertenstien asked me to play some of the Schubert for her. I said ok, sure, and I took out the Schubert, expecting her to only make me play a few measures. I kept going and going, with Dr. Vertenstien standing behind the piano, saying things like "More!" when I reached a climactic section , "smooth" as I got to a more legato section, or "shhhhh" when I needed to tone it down. I eventually got to the end of the "A" Section, which was the first time that I had played the whole thing, plus it was in front of people, or well. It was pretty cool.
Also, as I walked out the door, Dr. Vertenstien gave me one of her rare compliments. Normally if you've spent the entire week on the piece, working very hard to make it perfect for her so that she doesn't yell at you, she will say something like "Okay" or "Better", ranging to "Terrible." I know that she has high expectations of me as a piano student and a person, and yeah, I like that, because it pushes me to work harder and set my own high standards for myself. But it also makes it that much better when she gives me a compliment. Sure, the compliment was "you did okay, Sarah. Good even. You work well." But I'll take it.
So yeah, it was pretty cool.