I love our RV life. I really, really do. But that darn piano is making me cry. A piano, RV life and goodbye.
Let me explain
Many years ago, when our relationship was still new, on my birthday, Ken gifted me something incredibly special. He purchased an old (1800’s) piano. He stripped it, refinished it, shined the brass and polished the wood until the piano sparkled like the great beauty she was, and then he gave it to me. I had expressed an interest in learning to play.
I knew then that I was in love with the man who could do something so thoughtful. It was one of the most meaningful and loving gifts Ken ever gave to me. I have treasured my piano for many years.
So, why the crying?
It has come time to let go of our house. When we started RVing, we hauled away boxes and boxes of things. Things to be distributed among our grown girls or put for sale on a Salvation Army store shelf. Diligently we combed through our belongings and purged. It was tough, the letting go.
But there were some things, some things like my piano, that got to stay. Because our daughter would be residing in the house while we galavanted around the country in an RV, we got a reprieve. Our reprieve is over now. The kids have moved on to their new home and it is time to sell our old one.
My daughter has found a buyer for the piano. Now I have to let go. The new owner will be coming on Saturday to take it away. She wants the piano so her two young children can take lessons and learn to play.
The empty wall
Will the new owner appreciate what we are letting her have? Will she appreciate the beautiful tone that the aged wood has acquired? The original ivory keys, all intact? That only a skilled artisan can make replacement hammer arms should one get broken? That I love the piano? That it is the hardest thing from our previous life I have had to let go of?
The key word I keep trying to remember is that my piano is a thing. It is, to me, a beautiful thing but is too large to be tucked away for sentimentality. It won’t fit in the storage space filled with trinkets that we place so much significance on. There is no room in the smaller footprint we press into this earth. Help for this change in our lives came from Becoming Minimalist.
I’m trying
I’m trying to keep it all in perspective. I still have the handsome, thoughtful man who gave me the piano, to say “I love you” to. He and I are living a rewarding life filled with new sights, fabulous experiences and have reconnected with old friends and made new ones. I value our new lifestyle and enjoy sharing on Armadillo Tails webpage.
But while we rush to experience the Fall season of our life together, the final chapters of Spring and Summer are coming to a close. That is what the piano represents. I need to have a good cry and say goodbye. It is hard to accept life will not go backwards and I will no longer have the piano as representation of Ken’s love for me and mine for him.
I am going to take one last picture of Ken and myself in front of the piano. Then I will let her go to a new home. It will be a treasured photograph to tuck away with our other trinkets. I will bring it out some day and remember how beautiful the piano was and how special I felt when Ken gave it to me. I’ll try to remember what is important is not the “thing” itself but the feelings it has given me. I hope her new home loves her as much as I did. I hope they create memories to savor with that piano.
No one ever said change or RV Life would be easy.
A piano, RV life and goodbye.
Always grateful. 👫
We have been spending our time while home in Florida enjoying smooches and hugs from our two year old granddaughter, visiting family and going to what seems like endless doctor appointments. We are hoping to have some big changes in 2021 so stay tuned.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and and Happy New Year!
