Family instrument?

We've spent the night looking at pianos. I've been looking at postings on craigslist for the past few weeks. Mostly in the "free" section, but those go fast. I decided it was time to widen the net a bit to see what was out there. My goal is to stay under $500 for the piano because there will be money spent on moving and tuning it.

Frederic has been taking lessons for a while, practicing on Cyndi's old electric keyboard. She takes him to lessons on Tuesdays, so until recently, I have not really heard him play. It's amazing the progress kids can make when they are interested in something.

I was working in my office a few weeks ago, and I heard him practicing on the keyboard. At first, I thought it was Cyndi playing the tune, showing Frederic something from his lesson. Either way, I was confused because Cyndi's not really a piano player either.

I got up from my desk and walked into Frederic's room, and saw him sitting on the floor, alone, in front of the keyboard. He had his piano lesson book leaning up between the wall and the instrument, opened to a page. He had penciled tick marks on the page, indicating how many times he played the certain lesson. He has to play each one at least a dozen times when he practices.

While he's no {insert your favorite piano player here} yet, he's showing a tremendous amount of talent. I'm impressed with his interest and his progress. Seeing him on the floor like that initiated my search. He needs a better work space, I told myself. He needs a better instrument. It's only fair.

He's about the same age I was when a family musical instrument entered our home as a child. While my parents also selected an instrument with keys, ours came in the form of an organ. Maybe organs were popular in the late '70's, I don't know. What I do know is that one day, I found myself in the back seat of our beige Ford Station Wagon (sans seat belt), on our way to Woodfield Mall for lessons. We studied our new "interest" in the mall. I can't recall if our lesson was a "one and done" kind of package--just enough to teach us how the different buttons worked--or if we kept going back to the mall after the first lesson. I only remember the first one. I don't remember a lesson book. I don't remember what tunes we played. I just remember going there, meeting our young, tan skinned teacher, and then coming home, convinced she was going to be my girlfriend.

She doesn't have a name in my memory. She doesn't have a face. She sat next to me on an organ bench and showed me a couple of things. I go from that to girlfriend.

The organ was something my mother was interested in, mostly. She played every now and then. But nothing sticks with me on it being her passion. I don't even remember what happened to the organ when my parents got divorced. I'm certain she does.

We found a piano that we all like. We looked at a couple and this one is really nice. Dark wood, shiny white ivory keys. The family cared for this piano. All we'd need to do is settle on a price with the owner, book a mover, have it tuned, and let the enjoyment begin. We even have a perfect spot for it.

I'm afraid that the piano may become an "organ" memory for this household. I'm afraid that Frederic, and even Lily, may lose interest in the instrument. They are both excited now, but I am sure I was too when we got the organ. There's a flute in my office closet that hasn't been used by Cyndi since I bought it for her ten years ago. I sold my childhood trumpet on eBay in 2004. I got $950 for it. It was a silver Bach. I decided to buy a guitar with some of the money and use the rest for lessons. My interest is still there, but I haven't picked it up in about four years.

I'd love for this to be a family instrument. One that invokes a love for music in us all. I guess it's good to have goals.