I touch the faded ivory keys, the melody coming alive hesitantly. My fingers are still so slow on the keys, but soon I will be more comfortable.

A baby grand piano!

In my living room!

EEEK!

I have wanted a grand piano for as long as I can remember. I find them incredibly beautiful and inspirational on so many levels. And, I am not going to lie, it makes me feel as though ALL of my dreams are coming true.

Yes, I know pianos are antithetical to today’s tech-driven society. Perhaps that is what makes this beautiful piece so awe-inspiring to me. I know that perfecting an instrument (or even being good enough to play a song at full speed) will require time, and most likely lots of it. And when I have spent those countless hours? Perhaps I will find that I have a fair, at best, ability to play a piece that my phone could produce immediately and play so much better.

But somewhere in the practice, in the process, in the “getting lost to an art”, I also know that I will find some unknown part of me. I will discover some history, some beauty, some idea that I might never have had the privilege of knowing otherwise. It’s been this way with every endeavor.

You begin.

You create.

You learn.

You love.

You grow.

That is why I am so passionate about the arts. There is never a stagnant moment, never a time when you cannot call on creativity. Sure, she can be elusive, but playing hide-and-seek with her is still better than not knowing her at all.

There is an innate desire in each of us to know things that are real and true to our core, things that show us we mean something in the grand scheme. THAT is what our art allows us to discover. As we dive deep into our creativity, we find inspiration… then we polish that inspiration, growing in our craft, becoming bigger than ourselves as we offer those gems to people who desperately need to see that particular brand of beauty.

Art, creativity, music… It helps us evolve, heal, perhaps even transcend.

And I am so excited about this new path I find myself on. A baby grand is a dream come true.

But the piano is just the beginning.