Ever since leaving home I've always wanted a piano. Not a modern electronic keyboard, but rather an old school acoustic piano. After being forced by my mother to play for 10 years, I actually started to like the dang thing and now, like any good parent, I want to force my kids to experience the same hell that I did! (I still have nightmares about the "egg timer" and listing to it tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick... seemingly forever, waiting for my 1/2 hour practice to expire!)
Poor Brooklyn - she has no idea what's coming at her!
So for Christmas we decided to pool our gift money - especially from my parents (thanks mom and dad!) and find a piano. I searched Craigslist, visited nearly every new and used piano dealer in town, played probably 50 pianos and finally found what I thought was the perfect piano in terms of play and price. HOWEVER, "perfect" is a
subjective term and while
I was shopping for a musical instrument my
beloved wife was shopping for a piece of furniture. Turns out they can be two very different things.
the smoking gun...
For the record Amber has an exceptional eye for style and decorating and she has never failed us when it comes to home decor - except for her brief fetish with chickens - WTF? Additionally, in my 7+ years of marriage I have learned through trial and error that
hesitation or "sure" (the DEATH word from Amber) means she's not a fan of the idea/subject. So when I got
hesitation, "sure" AND "if it will make you happy" I
should have had SIRENS going off in my head... DANGER AHEAD, ABORT MISSION, IF YOU PURCHASE THIS PIANO, YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!
But, like so many times before my excited mind translated "sure" and "if it will make you happy" into "great" and "I love you so much I won't mind this at all". FALSE! But I foolishly steamed ahead, like the Titanic on its maiden voyage - destined for destruction, bought the piano and had it delivered two days later while I was at work....
The first phone call I received that day from Amber was innocuous enough... mostly a travelogue... piano was delivered, no problems, couldn't put it in the basement so its in the front room. So good so far and I am really excited to get home and see my new toy... but, unbeknownst to me, at -------------- an emotional storm was brewing that would make landfall soon...
The second phone call I received WAS NOT innocuous.. it involved tears, it involved me getting frustrated, it involved "I just
hate it", it involved "our house
was perfect" and it involved more tears, disbelief and frustratoin and an abrupt hangup.
The third and fourth phone calls are a blur - tears, frustration, apologies, etc - but suffice it to say that BEFORE I HAD EVEN SEEN THE THING it was mentally headed back to the piano dealer. Talk about buyer's remorse!
Fortunately our piano dealer offers a 1-year trade in program so we're looking at other options and - like most things desired by my blessed spouse - the piano she
really wants only costs 5x the one I selected! Sheesh!
Back to the drawing board... this time, hoping to avoid "sure"!
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