I'm a grown-up now.
Why?
I have a piano!
For years I have been saving my pennies, occasionally perusing Craig's List and checking the inventory at local piano sellers, waiting for the right piano at the right time. I have been patient--something that is not easy for me. I have seen lovely pianos come and go, and I've been tempted by the occasional freebie in need of some tender care. But nothing called out to me, as anxious as I was to have a piano in our home. I knew whatever piano we brought into our home would my one and only piano until the day I die. So I waited as the little pot of piano money grew, and I trusted that my heart would tell me when I'd found the right piano.
And my heart did.
One Monday morning, right after I got home from the gym, I was heading straight to the shower when I felt I should look at Craig's List at right that moment. I hadn't looked in a while, thinking that maybe I'd wait until summer or fall to start looking seriously again. (For years, every few months I start looking really seriously, only to give up because the timing seems wrong.) But I couldn't shake the feeling that I should look right then. So I did, only to find the usual digital pianos, American console pianos, and way-too-grand-for-our-home grand pianos. But then I scrolled down, and there it was, the perfect piano, posted for sale five days earlier.
Five days is an eternity on Craig's List. I was sure that the piano had already sold, and the seller hadn't bothered to remove the posting. But my heart was pounding with hope. I called right away, and I knew the moment I talked to Bruce, whose piano was indeed still for sale, that he was going to be getting a huge wad of cash from me very soon. He seemed pleased that such a nice family (if that's what you'd like to call us) was interested in the piano. His daughter had fallen in love with music on that piano, and it had been lovingly cared for since they had purchased it new. We made arrangements to meet later that day.
Of course this happened during an especially busy week. Taking off for a few hours to buy a piano wasn't on the agenda. But nothing was coming between me and that piano!
As soon as Greg got home from class, I asked him to put his studying aside to go buy a piano. We piled the kids into the car and drove to lovely little New Glarus (America's Little Switzerland). On the way, we drove through a tiny town and stopped at their local bank for all of that cash we were going to need. We bank through USAA, so we don't have a local bank. I am grateful for the kind people at that small bank branch seemingly in the middle of nowhere who were willing to help us out. I knew we could get the cash through USAA in a timely manner, and I trusted that Bruce would hold the piano a day or two (or more) for us, but I knew I would not sleep until I had bought that piano. And I wanted to wake up the very next morning well-rested.
Bruce met us downtown, and we followed him to his house, which he'd built on his father's farm where he'd grown up. We all trampled into his house, and he showed us the piano. There it was. My piano. Such peace in my soul! We dutifully played it and looked inside. Greg called his mom for some last second advice. (Check the soundboard.) Bruce was pleased that the piano was going to the "right" people. And, just as I predicted, Bruce got a big wad of cash from us that day.
On our way out, Bruce commented on how we both drive Subarus. Then he mentioned that his wife also drives a Subaru. And then we said we actually have two Subarus too. (Of course, we all took this to be a sign of some cosmic connection.) Bruce decided this was just further confirmation that the right piano was passing to the right people. (I personally thought it was meant to be because Bruce is an ice fisherman. It seems only fitting, with my recent fascination with ice fishing, that my piano would come from an expert on the matter.)
On our way home, at Bruce's suggestion, we stopped for dinner at Ticino's underneath the New Glarus Hotel. Very local and very fun. It was even all you can eat spaghetti and meatball night. (But my favorite was the cheese table. There was a table set up near the salad bar with several blocks of different kinds of cheese. Any time the mood should strike, you could saunter over and chop off a hunk of cheese.) It made for the perfect way to finish off our little piano-buying adventure.
When I had woken up that morning, I had no idea I was going to buy a piano that day. But I did. And I slept very well that night.
The next day a crew of professionals delivered our piano.
So guess what.
I'm a grown-up now. I have a piano!
I'm not sure why--more than college degrees or marriage or children or buying a house--having a piano is what definitively marks my status as a real, true, honest-to-goodness grown-up. Perhaps because I so clearly remember when my parents got their piano, and they were definitely grown-ups, so maybe I am too. Perhaps because a piano is so big and difficult to move that it represents the kind of stability grown-ups are supposed to have. Perhaps because a piano fits into the rhythms of family life--Christmas carols, teaching your kids to play chopsticks, the tinkling of piano keys in the background, hymns, piano lessons one day--the kind of family life grown-ups have. Whatever the reason, I love the sense of peace and joy that comes from having a piano in our home.
The funny part is that I don't even play well. I'm what happens when you take lessons for twelve years but don't bother to practice much. Pathetic, I know. But I studied long enough to develop a love and appreciation for music. I also think there's a passion for music in my genes, passed along from my dad. I remember how excited my dad was when he got a piano for his family. I remember how happy he was to sit and play (even though he's not especially good either). And now I am him.
I've brought a piano into our home, and I love it.
P.S. In case you're wondering, the piano is a Kawai studio piano. I grew up playing on a Yamaha, and all of my piano teachers had Yahamas and Kawais. So I was holding out for one or the other, which, to me, feel and sound very similar, if not the same. The piano is in a dark walnut finish. It is not glossy, which is good, because I would never get around to cleaning off the finger prints.
