goodmanbrown

Crystal’s brother had a tiny bit left in a bottle—only enough to taste. So I’ve now tasted absinthe. I choose to interpret this goal as “get drunk on absinthe,” so I haven’t done it yet.

My dad rented a cello from Kline Music a few days ago and stowed it in my sister’s apartment. My sister bought a tuner and a music stand and on Mom’s birthday, they delivered the whole lot to her. Success!

My mom is at least as bad as I am at receiving gifts, so I probably won’t know for a few years if she actually likes it, but I think the odds are good. Woo!

My mom played cello as a kid, and was good at it. In high school she toured Europe with a national youth orchestra. When I was very young, she gave occasional cello lessons in our town in Ohio. Then, at some point when I was in elementary school, she stopped.

When I was ten, my parents bought a piano and enrolled me in piano lessons—a move on their part that I didn’t appreciate fully until about three years ago, when I took up instruments for the first time in fifteen years. The early music instruction made picking up an instrument as an adult much easier, and learning instruments has been a big contributor to my well-being these last few years.

Last year, I learned that my mom stopped playing the cello because she sold it. It was the only way she could raise the money to buy a piano for me to practice on. And so my decades of obliviousness leave me feeling pretty lousy.

Since I learned this, I’ve wanted to buy my mom a cello, but it wasn’t possible on my TA stipend. This year, though, I won a fellowship, and will have a little money to play with. I can set the plan in motion.

It turns out, though, that buying a used cello is risky business for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. And I’d have to arrange the purchase from half a continent away. So I’ve changed the plan.

It looks like, with my dad’s help, I’ll be able to rent a used cello from a reputable music store in Sacramento. They’ll take care of any necessary maintenance, all of the rental fees can be applied to purchase, and Mom won’t have to feel guilty if it turns out she doesn’t enjoy playing. She can just terminate the rental agreement.

All in all, a better plan, I think. Dad is going to stop by the store in the next couple of days, to fill out the rental agreement, and with any luck we’ll have a rented cello in hand for my mom’s birthday next week.