Music is (or should be) the gift that keeps on giving

Slim and friend playing on "the biggest toy in the house" when we lived in OH

We were fortunate enough to have a piano in my family for many years.  The piano was purchased right around 1960 for my Dad's older sister because she was taking lessons.

It remained with my grandparents/grandmother until 1983, when my parents bought a home and they took it.  Of the four kids in my family, I am the only one who took piano lessons. And that was only a few at the age of five. No one in my family played really, but we all enjoyed tinkering with it to figure out songs. I remember my sister and I working together to figure out how to play Ode to Joy.

I am the oldest of the four children. When R and I bought our first house in 2004, my parents offered us the piano as part of a housewarming gift. R plays instruments (guitar and drums mostly) and wanted to turn the basement into a recording studio. Although his band Silo practiced down there, the recording studio idea never reached fruition.

In the nearly 30 years that it has been at my parents' or my home, R is the one who has played it the most. He loves jamming out and playing silly songs for the boys.

Children who have come to our homes in OH and FL always gravitated towards the piano.  We often joked that it was the biggest toy in the house!

But, as much as we have enjoyed it, R feels that moving it is headache inducing. Some moving companies shy away from transporting pianos and there's always the concern of if there will be a place to fit it in the new house. Frankly, though it holds sentimental value for me, I agree.  And now that we're headed for Kansas City, we were ready for the piano to go to a new family.

We found the perfect family to gift the piano to!  A mom of seven kids is a member of one of the moms' groups I belong to.  Her eldest daughter is a musician and one of her younger girls has really taken a shining to the piano.  Her children range in age from newborn to 18 - the piano will see many happy years in their home!

We said goodbye to the piano over Memorial Day weekend.  We gave the piano to her family for free, but still she was so thoughtful as to send a token of their appreciation.  I was immensely touched by the thank you bag she put together (it included fresh eggs from their chickens! and space shuttle cups for Slim and Curly to remind us of our time in FL amongst other goodies)  Here is an excerpt from her thank you note:

"What a gift of love.  Music is (or should be) the gift that keeps on giving ... You have proven that ...
We are all so excited and ever so grateful!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  We'll let you know what we name the piano ... First one to learn to play it gets naming rights!"

It was such a sweet thank you card and solidified my joy in passing the piano on. I truly am happy that the piano will be going to such a wonderful home!