Saturday, October 17, 2009

Piano Lessons



Piano playing runs in my family and so does forgetfulness.

Both of my grandmothers played the piano. One played for the silent movies at or near what is now Village Lanes in Gloucester. The other forced me to sit beside her on the piano bench and sing songs like "Bobby Shaftoe's gone to sea, silver buckles on his knee, he'll come back and marry me, pretty Bobby Shaftoe." This same grandmother forced me to take piano lessons.

My teacher lived in the farmhouse at what is now Queens Creek Marina near the American Legion Hall. Her name was Miss Janice, and she was also my kindergarten teacher at that cinder block building right next to the A&P, now Food Lion. I loved her but was not a fan of her dog Cujo.

Back when I first started this blog I wrote about Cujo piano lessons and the time my mother drove past me about seventy hundred times because she kept forgetting me where she was going. I was sitting on a fence on the side of Route 198--the very road she was driving on. Waiting.

If you click here not only will you read that story but you'll also see the first official comment from Meg of Soup Is Not a Finger Food, and one of the earlier ones from Ms. Foolery, too. Baby Sis tosses in her two cents but forgets to sign her name to the comment.

And now here is Chesapeake Bay Mother with her version of the same story.

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PREOCCUPATION STATION *
by Chesapeake Bay Mother


"Once upon a time there was a little girl whose mother dropped her off for piano lessons in the large white house at the end of a winding lane not far from where they lived. The little girl took her lesson and waited for Mother. No one came.

She walked to the end of the winding lane hoping to meet her mother on her way to get her. It didn't happen.

The big white fence at the end of the lane was just right for sitting and watching for her mother, who would surely be coming soon. And so she did.

Cars went by-this way and that. And then it happened. The VW Vanagon ** appeared with Mother at the wheel...and drove right past. A few minutes later, it came back...and drove right past. After passing her daughter more times than a bull does a matador, Mother was able to focus really hard and drove in to get her.


The moral to this story is: Mothers don't come with a warning label; but maybe we should and the warning should read, "This medication is intended to cure all your ills and leave you with no side effects. However on rare occasion it may leave you sitting on a fence."

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* CBW wishes to suggest that Preoccupation Station is the first stop on a one-way trip to Dysfunction Junction.

**CBW also wishes to clarify that the driver of a lime green VW bus abandoned her on the side of the road. The Vanagon came along much to her horror when she had her driver's license. Ergo she would have driven herself to said scarring life event piano lesson.

No side effects indeed.

p.s. Dear CB Mother: Last week I drove past CB Daughter's soccer practice where I was supposed to pick her up. Three miles later I remembered and turned around.

I understand. Completely.

11 comments:

Annie said...

oops...so it must be genetic then!

How is the weather? I was getting worried about you!

Annie said...

ps An interesting photo...would that be moss on those there rocks, or is it an optical illusion that I think they are green?

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Annie-The weather is awful, but it certainly could be worse. Rain followed by rain followed by more rain and cold. The tide is over the dock, and I'm resigning myself to the fact that anything I had out there (not anticipating a storm) is now gone. This is the third day of it.

Thanks for asking, it could be worse. Mostly it's just high tides and cold.

p.s. Yep, that is moss (or some sort of aquatic vegetation).

Caution/Lisa said...

Last year, I drove my daughter to school and just kept driving around the dropoff and right out to the exit - all without stopping. It was at that point that my daughter finally asked where we were going and when I was going to let her get out. It was, however, too late to actually stop. When I evenually made my way out of the traffic to a place she could exit safely, she was tardy.

Daryl said...

I am laughing, this is just another version of the game my mind and I play when I get up from the couch (not easy when a couch is so old you sink in up to your shoulders and you're 5 ft 10) and go into the bedroom for something but when I get there (BTW its only 10-15 ft from the Livingroom) I have no idea why I am there or what I went to do .. so back to the living room .. sometimes I remember but other times I remember, head back to bedroom, get there and again mind goes HA HA MADE YOU FORGET.

Was I replying or writing a post .. damn

Unknown said...

I love that story. I remember reading it the first time around but perhaps I was too shy to comment...could that be?

My parents once forgot me and my sister at the movies on a Friday night. Finally at one in the morning the police picked us up and took us home and woke up our parents. I'm sure this explains a lot of Grandma J's odd behavior.

Sorry I've been so sporatic around the blogs...it's hard to update with a bunch of little kids wanting their share of computer time and ice cream.

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

I forgot Little T once. I put him in time out on the steps. "Dont move until I tell you too!" A few hours later I came back(upon remembering)he was asleep. How low does whale poop go?

Country Girl said...

I work in a school office and I am here to tell you that at least three times a day. Three! A Day! I get teachers coming in and proclaiming that they don't remember what they were headed there for in the first place. Now that's three that are admitting it. Remember, please, that not everyone is that honest and the office gets a lot of traffic!

Nice post. Cool photo, too. I love the acquatic vegetation on your rocks, too.

Meg McCormick said...

I remember that story and it truly is one of your greatest hits! Look at me, trying to market myself to you? Seems funny now!

Thanks for linking to my new site, too. I still need to redirect and optimize and a bunch of other technical stuff I don't really understand.

Also - how funny that Foolery and I would have meandered your way on the same day?

Anonymous said...

I regularly forget my son at daycare and have to turn around and go back to get him. I blame it on soccer practice -- because his dad picks him up early for soccer practice one day a week. I haven't made it all the way home without him, yet.

AMN
Anonymous Mathews Native
(or Amnesiac Mathews Native, take your pick)

foolery said...

I love that post. I remember that post. I also remember watching your comments on BOSSY day after day, hoping that one day there would be a link there so I could access your hilarious mind in a roomier environment.

And one day, there was. : )