What's Cole Playing This Spring?

When Cole was an infant, lying under a sunshade at the pool, our friend Ionela would run over and scoop him up. I was free to swim with Chase or just sit and chat because she was always there, wanting to get her hands on him. When he was a toddler and I was still adjusting to stay-at-home-mom life, she came one morning a week to watch him while I ran errands or simply went to get a cup of coffee while Chase was in preschool. In those early years, he never hesitated to go to her, even though he was shy with others. I think she STILL has pictures of him on her phone from those days. Years later at Ionela's wedding to our friend John, Cole had become a big brother himself. Caroline was less than three months old, and John's father walked around the reception with her slung over his shoulder. Fast forward three years. Cole has started taking piano, practicing every day at the dining room table on our little Yamaha keyboard. Every Monday, we both struggle just the slightest bit on Mr. Pocock's piano - we're not used to weighted keys. Once I figured out Cole intended to stick this piano thing out, I decided to make a social media plea. Did anyone out in Facebook land know where I could score a used piano at bargain rates? And who do you think was ready to just hand us their beautiful piano? John and Ionela, of course! It's old and needs just the slightest facelift, but I wouldn't trade it for the shiniest new piano on earth, because it has so much meaning for our family.

Which leads me to an amusing aside. Remember the cute baseball pictures of Cole from two years ago? I may or may not have mentioned at the time that Cole wasn't exactly the most aggressive guy on that team. He tended to get distracted . . . by clouds, or cicadas . . . clovers, or just his own thoughts. He drove the coach somewhat crazy, although he did his best to hide that fact. Well, a week or so ago at a school fund raiser, I ran into Coach J. We made small talk, and then I asked whether he was coaching baseball this spring. He got a slightly tense look on his face and said, "Yes, actually. Is. Is, um, Cole playing?" Forced smile. I laughed, and said, "Oh no, he's not playing baseball." He visibly relaxed. Then he said, "What's Cole playing this spring?" I said, "Piano." And we both smiled for real this time.