Musetta’s Waltz

Needing Her Fix

This morning, we braved the snowy roads and freezing temps to travel to the home of my parents. It’s so cozy and inviting there. I fixed the email program on their computer, and then we proceeded on to my Grandma’s house.

Grandma’s computer needed fixing too, and she’s been in poor health this last year. The real reason we went to her house is because of Grandma’s addiction. Thursday this week, Grandma came into Work and shoved a handful of money at me and asked me to buy her some Rice Pudding from the bakery next door. She said they were making a fresh batch, but that her back hurt and she needed to go home, and please drive it out (15 miles) as soon as possible, which was today.

Musetta’s Waltz

Grandma likes to spend money. I mean not that she throws good money after bad, but that she spends a little more money on quality items that will last her a long time. When I was a kid, I would read these books wherein a  matronly sort of character almost always said that what she needed was a “good, sturdy pair of shoes, and a hot cup of tea.” That’s my Grandma for you. She likes a “sturdy” anything… and her piano is top of the line.

The only place to sit in her book-cluttered office (she was a teacher and thrives on books!) was on the piano bench, and I just couldn’t help myself. Grandma plays piano at about my level, if she practices (hey, I can only play at my level if I practice!), and I don’t believe I’d played for her yet. So I asked if she’d like to her a bit of the song I’m currently working on, Musetta’s Waltz, by Giacomo Puccini. Of course, I am working on a simplified rendition, and I am not singing, in case you wondered.

And then I played a song in my lesson book that I know by heart, called “Night Song.” It’s soft and beautiful and I can play it with my eyes closed. I completely get lost in that song and it’s by far my favorite. When I finished, Grandma (who doesn’t usually pay compliments) said twice how beautifully I played and how much she liked the song. She also commended me on the practice needed to play at this level.

I’m still not a great pianist, but I am trying. I am surely practicing more this week than at anytime between Thanksgiving and now. For some reason it’s flowing from me again. I laughed with Marielle, my piano teacher’s mom once said that she stopped playing because she couldn’t feel the music anymore. I know what she means now. I couldn’t feel the music since sometime before Christmas when I was so busy working on 5 or 6 songs at a time, getting ready for programs, etc. I wasn’t happy. I was a machine, playing the notes on the page.

And now… I’ve been literally stuck at the piano for all of Friday and most of today. It’s not such a tough life to have Puccini stuck in your head. It’s as though Musetta’s Waltz is the soundtrack to my entire weekend.

God bless you for visiting me here. I ask for your prayers regarding our meetings this week with the county regarding foster care classes. Also, in case we weren’t busy enough, Rob and I are beginning with a new Hospice Patient this week. And I’m trying to get some things ready for Willie and Charlie’s birthdays, which are in less than a month.

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