Most of my readers probably don’t know that I used to play the piano.
I began taking lessons when I was nine years old. THIS is how I know that:
Somehow, I’ve managed to keep up with my first lesson book. AND, although I can barely read the filled-in- blanks on the “Certificate of Merit”, I can see that it was signed and dated by “Miss Cecile” upon my completion of that book: July 4, 1963.
Seeing those little gold stars I earned on the pages brought back sweet long forgotten memories.
Probably around the time I was ten years old, my mom scraped together $25 and purchased an old upright piano and stool from an elderly neighbor. They had been stored in a barn, so you can imagine the condition. I’m sure the piano wasn’t in tune, and some of the keys never played. But I was so proud to have a piano. It was in our living room, which wasn’t heated in winter, so I’d practice til my fingers couldn’t take the cold any longer.
I think I took lessons for about four years, and as a young teenager, began playing the piano in church.
When Marshall’s dad and I married, we had that old piano moved to our house. It’s still there where Marshall and his dad live.
Just look at those little tippy-toes
A few months ago, I began entertaining the idea of having a piano again. This time of year, I miss playing the old Christmas hymns. But not knowing what would be involved in bringing my old piano ‘back to life’, I decided it may be better to just find something a little newer.
Last week, Motor Man was on Facebook and saw a piano listed on Marketplace by an acquaintance of ours.
And so it began: arranging delivery, rearranging furniture, looking through storage boxes for sheet music and hymn books…
To say that I’m ‘rusty’ would be an understatement. The last time I touched the keys on a piano was November, 2003, when I played for a senior citizens’ Christmas program that Motor Man’s mom directed. I enjoyed that so much. Prior to that, it had been nearly 20 years.
So, poor Motor Man and Sundae are now enduring my practicing as what I learned so many years ago slowly returns.
We think it looks right at home.
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 