For You, Little Brother

Are you up for another piano playing story? OK, so playing the piano was a huge part of my life when I was a teenager. I played pretty much every day and used it to relieve stress. Whenever I was upset or angry, those ivory keys absorbed much of my emotion. I had dozens of my favorite songs memorized so I could easily play them through tears of frustration when I had a fight with a boyfriend or failed a test.

Not that I always played that way. Sometimes I just found myself seated on our round stool running my fingers up and down the keys. Now before you start thinking I was talented, I want to confess that by the time I was 16, I only played for myself and the occasional little sibling that would join me. Even more than playing the piano, I loved singing my favorite songs.

My little brother, Randy, is 8 years younger than me. He was one of my piano buddies. We would sing together for hours until neither one of our voices could handle one more note. My other siblings often joined us, but I think he was my most faithful follower and one of our favorite songs to sing was One Tin Soldier. It was from a movie that came out when I was a kid and although I never saw the movie until I was an adult, the song was one that I loved to hear on my little apple-shaped radio.

At some point we acquired the sheet music for this song and I'll bet we sang it 500 times! When I got married and moved out, I took all my music with me even though I didn't have a piano of my own. I just knew that someday that would all change.

Now it's thirty years later. Randy and I don't sing together anymore. He has a family of his own and his wife, Natalie, is an accomplished player (much better than me). Fortunately I've found some new piano buddies. When I started playing again, Prima Donna pulled out my tattered copy of One Tin Soldier. I had sung it to my babies even when we didn't have a piano for accompaniment. Sadly, one of the pages was missing and it was virtually unplayable.

But Prima Donna had a plan. She ordered me a new copy for my birthday! We have been making good use of it. Tonight Sport joined us. It had been a long time since I had sung with a 9-year-old boy and even though some things change, others stay pretty much the same.

Why do I suddenly want to burst forth with a chorus of "Circle of Life?"