Is there something in your life that you’ve always wanted to have? I’m not talking about private jets or hundred-foot yachts, just a simple thing that you always thought would be really cool. I don’t have a ton of things like that in my life, but there are a few. And a couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get one of them.

At dinner recently, my sister mentioned that our aunt was looking for a home for a piano that had belonged to our grandmother. Abby and Maddy are taking lessons now, so my ears perked up a little, but we have a piano at the house so I realized I probably didn’t need two. And then she said a single word that made me stop and listen: “Grand.” “Wait,” I said, “a grand piano needs a home?”

I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to have a grand piano. It makes no sense. I played the piano years ago and have somehow retaught myself Linus and Lucy from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but that is about the end of my repertoire. Maybe it is the romantic notion of dinner parties with the sounds of Strauss, Bach, or Schubert emanating from a gorgeous piano. Why that would need to be in my living room, I have no idea. It’s big, and most grand pianos are black (which doesn’t match any of our furniture). So again, I wrote off the idea of having a grand piano as being simply impractical. And then my sister said, “Well, she said it is an apartment grand.” I have never heard that term before and so after a quick internet search, I realized that it was a grand piano, just on a smaller scale. “But what color is it?” I asked. She said, “It’s brown.” What????? A grand piano, sized for smaller rooms, that also matches our furniture? It’s like it was meant to be. Add in the fact that it belonged to my grandmother, and my cousins learned to play on it… that’s romance, nostalgia, and family all wrapped in one beautiful, musical package.

So we got it moved and setup, and Abby and Maddy have already enjoyed using it for piano practice. When I sent a picture of the piano in place to my aunt, she sent me this message, “I suspect Grandma Toni is smiling at seeing her piano being used to help another generation of Bokor musicians.” We are sure that she is too.