a friend of mine told me a few weeks ago that the husband of our piano teacher (from 3rd grade to 9th grade, when they moved to ohio) passed away. today i got a call from my mom; she told me that he had committed suicide. she's sending me my teacher's address tomorrow so i can send her my condolences.

what should i say? i'm not sure what to make of this. i never knew him very well but he was always friendly to his wife's students. our families were on good terms; a couple of times he took me to the local tennis club and we played some tennis, just the two of us, where he toned down his game a few thousand levels. he used to be a professional tennis player but i guess he never succeeded very far. they were childless; my sister visited them a few months ago in ohio and said she got the impression that they were sad because they had no kids.

i think i'm gonna send her lament for a son, a book written by a christian professor after his son died while hiking in europe. i know it's good for grieving people but i'm not sure how much comfort she would find in it...it's such a twist that his life wasn't taken away by accident.