Piano

Have you ever had that one thing in your life
that gets you through pretty much everything?

Well, for a while, i couldn't find one for me.
Nothing seemed to cheer me up when i was down.

I've been playing piano since 2nd grade, but I never really thought anything of it.
It was kind of a "Meh. No, i can't hang out after school today. i have piano lessons."
For me, piano was boring for a long time. I wanted to quit for a long time because i didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I was just mad because i couldn't play as good as Mozart. My mom always had to nag me to go to lessons, and i saw them as a waste of time.

Finally, in about March of this year, my parents had a fight about my piano lessons. My dad was the one running me to and from lessons because my mom had to work. Apparantly, he thought that if i didn't want to do lessons, why waste more money on me. But my mom was persistant on me not being a quitter. But as usual, my dad won by refusing to take me to lessons anymore.
My mom called the piano teacher and told her i had to "temporaily pause" my lessons. But I was pretty sure I wouldn't be starting them up any time soon.

For a while, my life seemed... less complicated. I liked it. But after a while, something felt like it was missing. A void that needed to be filled. I started randomly playing just in my free time, and I actually enjoyed it a little. I started playing more and more, and i was happy whenever i was playing piano. I thought that this was my calling.

Well, as you all know(or should know), my dad is a jerk. He was in a cranky mood one day and he flipped on me for playing the piano. He said i sucked and if he ever heard me playing again, he was going to burn all my music. I wouldn't put it past him.

So I started playing whenever i was alone. But he is retired, so that isn't very often. Every now and then, he'd go to a neighbor's house or something, and i'd practically FLY to the piano. I couldn't wait to run through a song or two.

In choir sometimes, I'd absentmindedly play chords or simple little tunes on the piano while we had study hall. Once, the teacher heard me playing, and, instead of yelling at me, she asked if i would accompany some people in the spring variety show. I was thrilled.
I tried my hardest to practice the accompaniments in my free time, but my dad hardly ever left the house anymore. I'd practice at school with the people I was accompanying, but i knew i couldn't learn all of the pieces in time.

The next day, I went up to the teacher and told her i couldn't learn them in time because i was "too busy." So I narrowed it all down to one accompaniment- Beauty and the Beast. When my dad was home, i'd sit on my bed and pretend i was on the piano and i'd finger the keys. The second he left, I'd bolt for the piano. It was 2 days until show, and i was still messing up a lot.
Finally, one day while i was ranting to Faithe, she suggested i play on a keyboard and put headphones in so my dad wouldn't hear.
The keyboard was way different than the piano and it took a while to get used to.
Finally, Show night came. As we walked onto the stage, my legs trembled because i had been playing on a keyboard and i had to play on a actual piano.

I sat down and I just played my heart out. I may have said a few prayers in my head for the tough spots, but other than that, i just played. And when the song ended, i realized I had only made 2 little mistakes.

The next day, I had a fight with my dad, in an attempt to win back my piano rights. There was a lot of arguing, but eventually, he gave in and I won.

For the first time in a long time, I was truely happy.
I knew I had found the thing that could get me through anything.