Casi el ducentesimo

This was posted on Facebook (by me, of course.)

To my piano...
Today, Brianna inspired me to rant about music. She is one of the most obsessed people I know (in a good way!) with this wonderful art. I was reminded of my childhood days. It started on the first floor of where we lived in Birmingham, England. The owner of the house rented out the 2nd floor to my parents, me, and another Chinese woman. The first time I met the (old-ish) lady who owned the house, we were in her living room. This was England, though, so the houses were connected and quite narrow and the rooms small. I remember coming up to my parents' waists and looking up at the toweringly tall adults. My mom noticed that I looked at the piano very often. This may have been the first time I saw a piano, and it is definitely my first memory of a piano. I was handed a white piano book with a red apple in the middle with a rectangular red border. I don't know if my mind made this up, but I believe it existed and was my very first piano book. We didn't have our own piano, so every evening, I would go downstairs to play on her shiny black upright. One day, I started practicing, and after what seemed like 10 minutes, I started playing through the other pieces in the book. Later, at age 5, my parents told me that I had practiced for two or three hours a day and refused to leave the piano. I remember running back down after dinner to practice more because I was so possessed. One day, an older Chinese girl came. I had no idea who she was, but my mom said that she was very good and we played a duet together. I still have a picture of that, which is why I've been able to retain that memory for so long. They really help keep you on par with the little moments of your childhood. By the time I was two months before I'd turn 6, my parents told me that the other Chinese lady was moving to Canada in June. In June, she left, and my father told me that we were moving to American in July. My mother had to get rid of almost all of my books, including a large, pink hardcover nursery rhyme book that had all the classic English nursery rhymes.
In Madison, we moved into an apartment. It was relatively nice because of its hardwood floors. The one thing that I wanted was a piano. One day, my mom as in the dining area and I looked up at her (I was still short...). I said, "wo3 yao4 yi1 ge gang1 xing2" (I want a piano.) She said that we would get one in a few weeks. A few weeks passed by, and I asked her again. This time, she and my father went to a piano store the next weekend. Later, I went, too, and looked around. One piano caught my attention because the keys were not old and yellow. I didn't walk too far past it because I was satisfied with playing a little piece on it. My parents decided that I liked it. It was a bit over a thousand dollars. I have played that piano since before 1st grade started. There are many more memories in my hippocampus, but it would take far too long to write in one Facebook note. When playing a piece, even for the first time, I have gotten completely lost within the music. Often, I "wake up" again, realizing where I am on the page. There is nothing in the world besides me, my piano, and a blur of black and off-white.
-____my name______
P.S. I tagged a few people who I know love music, but this isn't soley intended for them. I'm not sure who my audience was intended to be.