You would think that one way to have peace in your home
is to not have an accordion, but it didn’t work out that way for us. My
grandmother, my dad’s mom, loved her accordion, and like most things she did,
she played with gusto. This was a woman who, following a divorce, could not
find work, so she dressed herself as a man and worked for more than a year as a
lumberjack before her gender was discovered.
Before she died, my
grandmother gave her beautiful, old accordion to my dad. Her desire was
that one of his sons would learn to play.
A few years later, my dad, to raise money for church, donated a number of things from our house,
including his mother’s accordion. It was one of his only mementoes of her life,
and it sold for a small portion of its value. I remember my mom being angry
about it, but I was impressed by his choice.
I don’t suppose there is a way to measure the loss in
anyone’s life from not being able to play the accordion. Neither do I suppose
there is a way to measure the blessing of having a good father, a man who keeps
his word, and shows that doing what is right takes more than words.
Thanks, dad.
_____
Check out the accordion photo here.
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