Cheap parents make for comedic situations

As I lay in my bed last night, a certain childhood memory popped into my head that nearly made me laugh out loud.

A little background: When I was 13, I told my mom that I was desperate to learn an instrument. She was pleased because no one else in my family ever learned, and she asked me why the sudden interest. I told her that I had always been interested, which prompted her to then ask why I quit piano after only two lessons when I was 8.

Which brings me to the memory that still makes me laugh every time it comes up:

When I was 8, my mom decided it was time for me to learn piano. She priced lessons and found that they were too expensive. Instead of waiting and saving up some money for legit lessons, my mom asked around and found out that a woman named Pia was teaching lessons out of her living room. My mother gladly dropped me off for my first lesson. I was petrified of dogs until I was about 12, so it was traumatic for me that Pia's two large dogs (which she refused to put into another room) barked whenever somebody touched the piano. She also tutored math simultaneously for a group of boys that sat next to the piano. Anddd to top it off, she was a chain smoker.

All I remember telling my mother after the first lesson was that I would never go back because Pia's cigarette smoke kept going into my ear.


This was actually a post I was going to make a few days ago, but I feel that it is fitting with this story:
Sometimes I want to make lots of money when I grow up so I can provide not only the basics for my children, but also the luxuries. At the same time, though, when you grow up in a family that uses a broken hand-me-down TV (that always makes the program look like it is taking place at night) or a car with the fender falling off from a car accident ten years prior, I feel that you grow up with more perspective and a much, much better sense of humor about life.


So that was a long ass post. But I am kind of laughing even now as I think of Pia.

Oh, and now it is in writing. It is my goal to play piano at least once for my friends before the year is over.