The day we unloaded it from our horse trailer was the day I knew I loved it. It was a deep brown with many scratches and nicks; you could tell it had been well-loved. The keys had small dents in each of them, the edges slightly worn down in memory of the tiny hands that had learned to play upon them. It was an ordinary piano, the stand up against the wall kind that they always had at the small town churches by my town. When I would lightly press on the keys, it would make a rich sound that to my unrefined ears, sounded like a choir of angels held on high.
Aunt Laurie, (LoLo, as we all called her) unloaded the piano bench and set it with a thud by the front door of our little farmhouse. “So, in this bench, there are the instruction books, Christmas music, and the church music.” As soon as my burly uncle brought the bench in the house, my little brother, sister, and I tore open the bench and began pawing through the sheet music. Morgan and Samuel went for the bright, exciting looking books, but a worn, gray leaflet caught my eye. On the front, in a fancy script, it said “Auld Lang Syne”. We fought like tigers over playing it. We compromised by all playing the poor thing at the same time, producing a terrific and terrible thunder.
When the little ones finally went to go watch a movie, I sneaked back into the music room, (as the front room had come to be called) and tenderly laid my fingers upon the keys. I softly turned the pages of my sheet music, until I came to my chosen song. As I began playing the classic melody of New Years, an energy flew unto me that changed my outlook on life. I felt in control of what could happen, and everything seemed a little brighter.
That was about 4 years ago. To this day, whenever I feel like the world is trying to do me in, I run to the ebony and ivory. I’ve never been musically talented, but when I get behind that old piano and my fingers clumsily fly, I am unstoppable.
Photo Credit
The Piano Provided By Jackie Phillips
Feature Image – Microsoft Office Clip Art Collection
Also posted at La Fille Fada
Guest Author Bio
Jackie Phillips
Jackie Phillips is an aspiring writer who especially loves telling stories about life, love and anything that pops in her brain. She enjoys riding horses in the mountains in Southern Idaho and driving around an old Chevy truck with her large family. She also enjoys the political clash in her family that occurs on a weekly basis and French. For more about her and her random life, visit her Blog at Tumblr.
Blog / Website: La Fille Fada
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Nice. Your article took me on a trip filled with happy memories of my own piano. I don’t have it any longer, but I was able to find it a good home with a talented mother wishing to teach music to her children. Thank you.