Yesterday I noticed a post in the free section of Craigslist where someone was giving away their old Wurlitzer piano. I thought it was an offer too good to pass up so I called and inquired. I didn't get an answer at first, but they called me back pretty quickly. The elderly woman that I spoke to said that it had been her mother's and when her mother passed away she inherited it. She said that she didn't play piano like her mother and sister did and didn't have the capability to learn, so the piano had just been sitting in her house for years with no one able to give it the love that it deserved.
I don't play piano either, though I think I would like to learn. Colin plays and is great at it. The dude is basically a virtuoso. He was playing Chopin on his keyboard when I got home this afternoon. Originally I thought that I might pick up the piano and give it to him as he would be able to give it the love and attention that it requires. However, now that I've seen it and moved it, I feel attached to it. I'm getting ahead of myself, though.
Last night, when I got off work, I picked up Tyler downtown and went to go pick up the piano. It was readily apparent when we got there that the piano was too heavy for Tyler and I to move by ourselves. I didn't want it to slip out of my grasp, though, so we stayed and talked to the couple for a while. The old man said that they had owned a Subway franchise in Marshall and said that they worked 16 hour days every day which didn't give them enough time for a social life during that time, but gave them enough money to retire comfortably. He said that once the piano was moved he was going to tear out the carpet in his living room and replace it with hard wood floors because his entire house was basically a honey-do project. The woman saw my new Jeep Liberty and got really excited about it. I told her it was new to me and she said that I was going to love it. She then proceeded to tell me a story about how they had been involved in a horrible car wreck once in a Jeep where the car had basically been folded in half like a V but the only injury either of them received was a chipped bone in her foot where her foot had been compressed by the wheel well.
The love that those two shared for each other was immediately recognizable. You could tell that they were a couple that respected and valued the other in every way. They would not interrupt each other while talking, and if one needed to interrupt for whatever reason it was proceeded by a "no offense." I imagine that all of this had something to do with only being able to socialize with each other for the years that they worked together. That the only way to really survive in that environment was through mutual respect, admiration, and knowing each other completely. We learned that they were originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We learned that the woman came from an extremely musical family even though she was not musically gifted at all. We learned that the man built model train sets and he took us down to his basement and showed us. The set and track was huge and elaborate, easily taking up a third of his entire basement space.
As we talked with these two I felt more and more at home with them. I felt a kinship with them. I saw in their relationship with each other the same kind of enduring love that my own parents share. They felt almost like estranged grandparents in a way. I wished that we had more time to spend and chat, but it was getting late so I took the piano bench and a box of sheet music from the 20's and 30's from their basement and promised that I would return for the piano the next afternoon.
After leaving their house I headed over to Steven's. I was late and afraid that he might be angry at me because of that, but he wasn't. I brought the ingredients for one of his favorite meals with me (chorizo stuffed patty pans) and began cooking when I got there. He had one of his friends over and we all talked and ate and had a great time. I was still affected by the old couple that I had spent the afternoon with, though, and I kept looking at Steven and wondering if we would be like them in 30-40 years. I hope so. I really, really hope so. I feel as though my relationship with Steven is purer than any other relationship I've had previously. The emotion that I feel when holding him at night fills all of my pores, my blood vessels, my organs, my entire being. It is such a strong emotion and one that I can only get across by saying "I love you," which feels dreadfully inadequate, so I say it again and again and hope that repetition will get it across. I want to grow old with him. I hope that he will let me. I'm afraid of losing him sometimes, as I know that there are aspects of my life that he doesn't like. The fact that I depend on people depending on me sometimes for one. That I do a lot for other people instead of putting myself first in a lot of cases for another. If anything drives us apart it will be me playing the doormat one too many times. I have got to learn to say no and stop taking other people's problems on as my own. I need to learn to reprioritize.
Today I borrowed Steven's truck and picked up Tyler and Colin and headed back over to the elderly couple's house to pick up the piano. We met their dog Rusty, chatted a bit, and loaded up the piano. It wasn't that bad with three people at all even though we did end up scratching it a bit. The woman had her hands over her mouth the entire time. I hope that we didn't upset her too much.
The piano really is a beautiful piece of furniture, and knowing the love that surrounded it and the memories of that woman's mother that it contains makes me want to honor it. I want to learn to play it. It contains the echos of lives within its wooden frame. Echos that will only be unleashed through the tapping of keys.
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