Last night I picked my mom up for dinner, and on the way out of the house, I walked by the piano that she has always played and I asked her “Hey mom, when did dad buy you that piano?”

Since my dad died of Alzheimer’s Thanksgiving week of 2018, my mom and I have had some wonderful discussions about her life with my dad.  So many things are coming to light that I simply never knew in the 58 years that I knew Norm. Mom has detailed recall of his life on the farm, in the Navy, his career with the Yellow Pages, and the things he did with her and raising us. Fortunately Alzheimer’s hasn’t reared its ugly head with her. There are so many things that have come to light in the last 10 months since he passed. I can’t help but ask my mom countless questions about him about and things I really never knew. My best friend knows how my mind works, and when I see something, it get’s me thinking about something else, I change the subject,  I ask a question, I get an answer, and move on.

So I picked mom up for dinner last night and headed over to Dandelions’s, one of my dad’s favorite spots since they opened in 1984.   What’s really transpired, and tweaked my curiosity since he’s been gone, are countless reminders of him that pop into my head, and the countless questions to my mom and detailed answers she has to satisfy my curiosity.  So as mom is telling me about what Lester Holt had to say today, I’m walking by the piano in our house, and cut her off mid stream, and ask her how long we’ve had the piano. Anyone who knows me knows I like to ask questions (thoughtful ones in my opinion), and when I get my answer, I move on.  But not when my mom answers. She’s got my attention and we stick to one subject.  So she proceeds to tell me, in life, if she wanted something bad enough, she would constantly remind my dad, and after enough reminders, he’d usually deliver. Mom played the piano as a kid back on the farm along with her two sisters, and I recall as a child and later on in life, she had quite the gift as a pianist. I’m not sure my dad knew that, but what I do know, is he did many thoughtful things in his life, and one thing I’ve come to learn about him, is how he learned how to get buy, make a buck, enjoy life, and deliver some nice gifts along the way. Needless to say my mom got her piano.

All because of a farm girl playing piano back in the day and the burning desire to do it again.