Stolen Moments

My brothers and I used to lie to my mother about how much we practiced the piano. The three of us teamed up in this subterfuge as we attempted to pull one over on mom. Hindsight suggests that the only ones we were cheating were ourselves. "Oh yes. I practiced for more than fifteen minutes. And Dan did his fifteen minutes. And Doug? I'm pretty sure he did almost half an hour." It did not occur to us that my parents were paying for the lessons we were taking, and our lack of progress would do nothing but sandbag that investment. 

I grew up with a piano in our living room. It was my mother's and having grown up with her own practice regimen she was able to play all manner of complex classical pieces. Meanwhile, her three sons spent their time plinking away at finger exercises and scales. These were building blocks that would eventually deliver the kind of seemingly effortless flourishes my mother performed. This was a path that may have been understood at some level by us boys, but the wealth of things that we would rather do than sit on that piano bench and do our due diligence. Not the least of these was in fact the least of these: doing nothing. Then shortly before mom was expected home, we would gather to renew of agreements and clarify the details. We understood that the youngest would probably be the weak link, with a propensity for telling the truth. All it would take was one little slip, and our whole story would fall apart. 

Decades later I find myself wishing that I would have afforded myself more of a chance to learn more piano. My Mother's piano now sits in my front room. Nobody is watching over me. I could take any of the spare moments and sit down to refresh those muscle memories from all those E-Z piano selections I memorized way back when. I know the keys. I know the scales. I appreciate that the only thing that is keeping me from playing just as wonderfully as my mother did for all those years is the guy not sitting in front of the keyboard. 

That guy who used to lie to his mom about how much he practiced. I would like to have some of those days of nothing back.