"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it" -- Goethe
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Baby Grand

My father was a self-taught classical pianist and throughout my childhood the sounds of his music rang through our house.  And in my mind’s eye I can still see him sitting at the baby grand playing a piece by Chopin or Beethoven.  (See Moonlight Sonata)

That baby grand followed my folks from the house I grew up in,  to one they moved to in their later years,  and of course that house too was filled with my dad’s beautiful music – until years later when he died and the piano stood there silently,  as if missing him as much as we did.

And less than three years later my mother was gone,  and the sad task of selling their house fell to us.  Family and friends took some of my folks’  furnishings,  books,  and keepsakes,  but no one had room for a baby grand.

At a neighbor’s suggestion I advertised in the local paper that the baby grand would be given gratis to someone who would arrange for piano movers to take it.   A lovely young family replied and said they’d love to have it for their musical son.

The movers arrived,  removed its legs,  wrapped the piano securely,  and set it out on my parents’ front porch ready to load on their van.  Then watching that van pull away from my parents’ house was heart-wrenching,  but I knew my dad’s baby grand was going to a good home.

And I knew what was a bittersweet ending for our family would be a sweet beginning for another.

– Dana Susan Lehrman 

The Duck Pond

My parents,  lifelong New Yorkers, would escape the city’s summer heat for vacations in the mountains –  in New York’s Catskills or New England’s Berkshires.

Yet as they got older it was the winter cold that drove them out of the city.   And like many east coasters,  Florida became a desired winter destination – although my mother protested that it was not her first choice but it seemed all her friends were headed down there!

And so for several winters my folks did spend some time in Florida,  although not the whole season as my father wasn’t retired.  In fact my father’s refusal to retire was a sore point between them! (See Around the World in 80 Days)

Then one sad September day my dad died  — with his boots on as he’d always wanted.  My folks had rented a Florida condo for a few weeks again for that winter and we hoped my mother would go.   And for a few more years she did and enjoyed her condo which overlooked a small duck pond.  She loved to watch what she called “my ducks”,  and of course she enjoyed the company of her brother and sister-in-law and friends who lived nearby.

We visited her in Florida each year,  and then one winter I flew down myself,  my husband to join me later.   But rather than pick me up at the airport as she usually did,  my mother told me to take a cab and when I got to her house I found her in bed and terribly weak.   Alarmed,  I took her to the doctor the next day and he immediately hospitalized her.

My mom died a week or so later.  But her last words had comforted me,  she’d told me not to mourn as she’d lived a long and happy life.  (See The Dinner Party)

When we got back to my mother’s house I went to the pond to bring the sad news to her ducks.

– Dana Susan Lehrman

September was my birthday, it was the start of a new school year, the sticky summer was through, the air was crisp and I might even have some new clothes. Of course it was my favorite.
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