Conflicting Emotions

Please welcome the newest member of our family: our new Yamaha Baby Grand piano. It arrived today. Bryan says that this is my birthday present...this year and next year and the year after...maybe Christmas too. :) We've talked for a few years of buying a baby grand piano "someday." In our old home it wouldn't have fit. So when we moved here I knew that it was now a possibility. It would still be a few years down the road but we figured we ought to go in sometime and at least look into what kind of piano we would want...what size, what brand, etc. so we knew what to be saving for. We got an ad in the mail last week trumpeting a huge sale, the likes of which had never been seen at The Piano Gallery, and that piqued my interest. Maybe now would be a good time to go check things out. We did, and the sale was so good we decided that NOW was "someday." They even said they'd take our old piano as a trade-in which would drop the price even more.
So we made the deal, set delivery up for today and then headed home. I walked in and was greeted with the sight of my sweet little Yamaha upright piano that I bought 11 years ago. Oh, I'm attached to that piano! See, my wonderful Grandmom and Papa had given me some money to go to college with the understanding that whatever I had left over when I was done was mine to do with what I wished. When all was said and done and I was officially graduated I did indeed have a little bit leftover and decided to put it towards a piano. They were thrilled! Apparently my Grandmom's grandmother had helped them buy their first piano so this use of their money was just a perfect idea to them. And it made it more special to me, it had more sentimental value because it was, in a way, like a gift from them. I always associated the piano with them.

I sat down to play that piano one last time this morning and as I played I realized that today is the 8th anniversary of my Papa's death. That was a hard time for me, watching him go 8 years ago. And so it was kind of bittersweet on this specific day to watch my piano that I had so associated with he and my Grandmom be hauled away.
I find that I get pretty attached to things. If that's a good thing or a bad thing...I don't know. I will miss my sweet first piano, believe it or not. But I am quite excited about my new baby grand. I'm sure my Grandmom and Papa, if they were here, would be equally excited to hear the wonderful music that I'm sure we'll be making on this new piano.