Piano Moving Day – Empty Nesting 101

The first rays of sunlight barely touched the treetops at the end of our driveway. I poured myself a second cup of coffee and paced near the big window facing the road.

I was the one who scheduled the movers to come, I just hadn’t expected to be their first stop of the day. They arrived right on time.

Within 20 minutes, the baby grand piano in our living room was carefully tipped onto its side.  Long bolts attaching the wooden legs to the frame were unscrewed. At the count of three, two men lifted the 1920’s piece of craftsmanship onto a cart.

Working quickly to stay on schedule they wrapped up and wheeled the piano outside into a large van. Then, they drove off with the piano now belonging to someone else.

I turned back to the house, stepping through the door, still open. The room looked odd. Empty. Hollow.

I didn’t think I would cry when I saw the truck leave the driveway. I did. A lot.

Deep indents remained on the carpet where the piano had been, but after a good vacuum, even that would become erased.

It wasn’t just about the piano; a huge part of my motherhood years had been wrapped up and carried out as well.

All of our kids took music lessons at one time or another. But the empty corner of the room brought the stark reality that those years have come to an end, or at least pretty close to it. Years of music lessons. Hours of recitals. Listening to the same song played repeatedly until it was flawless.

It is hard to imagine the days you thought would never end, actually have.

Furniture was rearranged,  I hung up our cuckoo clock and the piano books were set in the garage, next to old yearbooks and photo albums.

It was not how it had been, our living room, our life, but it is our new normal.

That is what the Emptying Nest feels like. It is a weird time of letting things go. Like a baby grand piano that silently takes up significant space, the void must be addressed.

Making room for what is next in our lives sometimes means letting go of things we hold dear. Delaying the process doesn’t make it easier.

The piano needed to go, but more importantly, I needed to let it go.
To make room for what is next.

Note To Self: It is okay to struggle with letting things go that have an emotional connection for us.  Address the real issue you are dealing with so you can move forward with an open hand, or for some, an emptying nest.