String Quartet

The gifts I receive at Christmas are rarely true surprises. That’s either because 1) I have asked for the gift 2) I have figured it out by “accidentally” seeing a amazon.com invoice or something like that or 3) I have bugged someone enough to have them tell me.

Christmas Eve I was truly surprised by my gift from my sister, Mandy. She gave me a violin.

The back story to this is that my Dad was gifted in Music.  The viola was his preferred instrument. He had my three older sister take lessons and they played the Cello, and Violins. Together, they were a string quartet.

Mandy was given a $300 violin because they couldn’t afford a better one. My parents always intended on buying her a nice one, but it never happened. It’s hard to find an extra couple of thousand dollars  lying around.

I came along and had piano lessons. I don’t really remember why I never took lessons for another instrument. Maybe lack of interest on my part, maybe money. Either way, I know both my Dad and I regretted that.

So there are two regrets that I know my Dad had: that my sister never got a nice violin and that I never learned to play a string instrument. And I’m guess a third: that my sisters weren’t part of a string quartet anymore.

Without revealing the personal story that belongs to my sister, but that it involved my Dad’s influence, Mandy bought herself a nice Violin. She gave me her old one.

I am beyond moved by this gift. This entire Christmas I have been thinking about my Dad and a climax to that was this gift. I have been practicing everyday and think of my Dad as I play. My Dad has been making appearances in my dreams every night since Christmas Eve.

I don’t know how long it takes to get “good” at the violin, but I hope someday I can play well enough to play with my sisters and make a string quartet again.