Along about 1972, we lived close to Tolbert School in Resaca. Jimmy and Jeff Burns were in school but the other 3 were not , they stayed at home with me. Sandra Franks, Marvin's cousin, would visit quite often. She wasn't married and loved the kids. She came by our house as she didn't work and I think she was lonesome. She brought me some material and I made us some dresses to wear to church. She taught me more advanced crocheting and we made an afghan.
Now Marvin Burns had a cousin named Harlan Patton. Harlan bought a double wide trailer on the Cline Road. If anyone knows about trailers, you have probably guessed that a trailer floor will not hold much weight. Recently, he had lost his mother-in-law and inherited an old piano. This was the ugliest piano that I had ever seen. Someone had painted it "blue." Harlan was trying to sell the piano for $25.00 because he couldn't put it in his trailer and but needless to say, I didn't have any money. Now I wanted that piano and I wanted it bad. I tried everything to get that piano So here is what transpired. I traded him a can of pickled green tomatoes for the piano. Crazy huh..... Ruby's garden was gone except for a few tomatoes. It was nearly frost, so we gathered all the green tomatoes along with some hot peppers and preserved them. I had never eaten a green tomato from a jar until I tasted Ruby's. We had alot of the preserves in 1/2 gallon jars. Ruby did not waste anything. So because of the big families, canning was done in quarts and 1/2 gallons. No pints used except for jams and jellies.
Well anyway, Harlan wanted some green tomatoes so we traded plus I would have to sing for him when I could play again. I think I got the better end of the deal. I had taken piano lessons in my youth but I had forgotten just about everything. Sandra Franks brought me an old hymnal from her home. I found middle "c" and I knew that an old song called "There is a Fountain" was in the key of "c" with no sharps or flats. My aunt Lillian taught me the song when I was about 8 years old. F A C E are the names of the space notes for the treble and E G B D F are the line notes. Hey, I was getting the hang of it again. Now to learn the bass cleft. Sandra taught me about playing cords with the left hand. Hey, playing cords was alot easier than playing all the notes with your left hand. Now to get the timing right. 3/4 time and 6/8 time were the easiest. ONE two three, ONE two three- I could do this, but the song I was learning was in 4/4 time. one two three four- one two three four. Just had to keep practicing and practicing and practicing. Yip-eee I learned a song. I practiced it until I could play it from memory. Then on Sunday morning at church, Sandra's sister, Phyllis asked me to sing the song. So I sat down on the piano bench and froze. I couldn't remember a note much less sing. Finally, Phyllis said she would play for me. Then she told me not to look at the crowd but up at the ceiling. I held the book and looked at the ceiling and sang to God. How much simpler it became when I sang to the one the song was written for and all His majesty. He gave me strength and I never faltered again.
Sandra is no longer with us but I know she is singing to our Lord and Savior that she loved enough to share with me. I miss her.
What happened to the blue piano? That I could not tell-a short time later, we moved up close to my children's grandmother(Ruby) and into a trailer. The trailer floor would not hold the piano so we had to sell it. After that, I went to work and did not have much time to play.
