Moving from one home to another can be highly stressful, even at the best of times. Will everything fit in the new house? What do you take with you? What do you leave behind?
When I was a little girl, my mother paid for piano lessons. I don’t know why she decided to buy that spinet piano – I guess she always wanted one and had somehow come into a small windfall. The piano looked great in our small suburban living room – well, at least until the new puppy ate the side of it. Needless to say, my mother was not happy.
But that’s a story for another day.
Mom paid for piano lessons, somehow managing to save cash from her grocery money to do so. I would walk several blocks to the piano teacher’s house, where I learned to play on a beautiful baby grand.
And I really got into music. As I grew from a child into a teenager and then a young woman, the piano became my emotional outlet. Whenever I was upset – and whenever I was ecstatic – I would bang on that piano until the emotional up or down was totally released. Sometimes for hours. I loved that piano.
When Mom became elderly and Dad had passed, she went to her attorney and drafted a Will. She bequeathed the piano to me. She said she wanted me to have it because I loved it so.
But then she sold the family home and could not take the piano with her to her small basement apartment. She considered that piano to be rightfully mine, so somehow I found room for it in my own home. I even hired a piano tuner to make sure it was in optimal condition (well, despite the chewed up side, which never had been fixed).
As my own children grew, I arranged for piano lessons for those who were interested. They enjoyed playing, but none got into as much as I had.
Over the years, the piano became an unused fixture in the living room. I no longer had time to play it, and the children had other interests. Mostly, the piano was someplace to put family photos and other memorabilia. Once in awhile, someone would open the lid and play a few bars, but the poor thing became ignored. I knew the piano was sad, but I couldn’t give it up. My Mom had died and it was one of the few things I had left from her.
Is that Not CM ?!
Eventually, we sold our first home and moved to a new one. The living room at the new house was much different than the old one, and we had room for either the desk/credenza that I had purchased for my blogging hobby, OR for the piano, but not both.
The piano had to go.
I offered the piano to each of my daughters, but no one had room for it. I considered donating it to a charity of some kind, but another family member had recently had trouble finding a taker for her own spinet piano – and I had neither the time nor energy to start calling churches, schools, etc. to see if anyone would take it.
I didn’t want to just put it out on the berm on garbage day. Somehow that seemed disrespectful to my mother’s memory.
So, in desperation, I posted on Facebook, and a miracle happened. A friend replied that she would gladly accept the piano, and her young son would love it every bit as much as I had as a child. My friend arranged to have professional movers pick the piano up at my new house, where it was stored temporarily in the garage because there was no room in the house itself.
The movers arrived, and I watched as they prepared to load the piano. I knew it was getting a better home. I knew it would be loved by another child. I knew it would longer sit unused for the mere purpose of holding photographs and memorabilia.
But knowing doesn’t always matter. As the piano was rolled up onto the truck, I glanced up at the sunny sky and white fluffy clouds and thought of my mother and how she had sacrificed to bring me so much joy in my young life. Unexpectedly, I began bawling. My husband had to supervise the rest of the move.
My friend understood what that piano had meant to me. She sent photos of the piano in a place of honor in its new home – and she sent a video showing her son’s excitement when the piano arrived. I don’t think my friend will ever know how much that video meant to me.
The piano will be loved. Mom would have been pleased.
THE PIANO IN ITS NEW HOME!
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
You have done a great thing by introducing this piano into another young life, CM. Your mom is happy and proud up in that sunny sky.
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Thanks, Mark. I know it was the right decision to make.
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yes, i agree with mark. it was the perfect thing to do
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Thank you. It didn’t make sense to keep it, knowing no one was likely to play it.
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This little post left me with a lump in my throat. Those things we have our memories invested in can sometimes be difficult to let go of.
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Aw. Thanks. I love it when my words mean something to my readers.
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I’m glad you found it a good home.
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I did. I couldn’t post the video, but that young man was sooo excited when he saw the piano for the first time. He got the sheet music, too.
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Oh I can so relate! I sold my piano in 2013 before we sold the cottage. I hadn’t played it for ages and lost heart in something that had seen me through so much. As it turned out, I found it a good home through my piano tuner and it could’ve been a different story if I didn’t sell it when I did (ie it definitely would not have fitted on the boat).
My Mum’s walnut piano, the one I played with my Dad as a child, sits untuned, unplayed and unloved at the bottom of my sister’s staircase. She doesn’t play, her youngest daughter did for a little while, but no doubt it will be disposed of with little thought or care (I hope I’m wrong about that actually) as somehow I don’t think it likely to be offered to me. I now have a digital piano, and very pleased to have music back in my life and home again.
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I hope your sister’s piano eventually finds a home where it can be played and loved. Musical instruments need to be played.
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I don’t know if Sis ever classed it as hers to be honest. I heard my niece play Imagine ad was extremely moved as I thought she may have inherited a gift, but she lost interest and as far as I know hasn’t played for over 25 years. It’s home (or was) for fresh flowers every Friday with the family photographs.
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This one hurts a bit, CM. I had a similar emotional connection to an old upright piano (same stool). Lived distant, too difficult to move it, until we moved closer years later, and I asked for it. By then, stepmother and grandkids were playing around on it, Dad didn’t want to give it up. When he died, it was donated to a local small church that my ancestors had founded. Sweet, but I only found out about it when I was invited to the dedication ceremony, thanking the family. I didn’t attend. Heartbroken. p.s. She didn’t know that I was the only one that played, thought we all 6 sibs shared it, so to the stepmom, it was the fair thing to do.
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Good morning, Victo. Sorry to bring a pang to your heart today. But at least your piano also found a good home and is being enjoyed by many people. Your stepmom could have just had it chopped up or something (shudder).
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No worries…happened years ago. And yet, I have a newer piano that I bought, just not the same in tone, no ivory keys, no bittersweet memories.
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Oh, I just realized I called you Victo instead of Van! So sorry. The noise of the bathroom renovations is affecting my thought processes this morning.
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It’s a very generous thing to do, CM. Over here, it’s very unlikely someone would give you a piano even if it’s your own relative. Sending you big hugs, CM! ʕ ⊃･ ◡ ･ ʔ⊃
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Thanks, NBC. If you didn’t live way over on the other side of the world, I would have been glad to give the piano to you.
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Aww…thanks, CM! (,,^・⋏・^,,)
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Thank you for passing it on! I am so sorry it was painful. Sending you a virtual ((hug)).
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It was a good painful, if there is such a thing. I knew Mom was watching and was pleased, but it still hurt to cut that last tie.
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Another sentimental post that touches my feels.
It was a grand gesture to re-home that piano. That little boy will grow up telling people how some generous woman GAVE them a piano, just gave it to them. Maybe every time he plays he will think of it. Good stories there. Wonderful gift.
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What a nice way to think of it! I like the idea of someone thinking of me when they play a piano.
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I had a grand piano that needed to move on. Man, that really HURT!
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Oh, a grand piano would have been even worse. They’re so beautiful.
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I cried too but the piano is in a good home and loved and more importantly being used again.
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Those were the 3 points that made my decision for me. My friend read the post today and tells me her son plays eagerly, and in fact, my friend is now taking lessons and finds piano playing soothing. I think I did good.
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You Did, you did really a good thing ,💜🌹🌹
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It’s really hard to give up things that mean so much. I’m so glad this beautiful piano has gone to a home where it will be loved. A new journey begins for all, including the precious piano.
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It was the best outcome I could hope for, Vicky.
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