Seems like just yesterday they were little girls, I thought, watching my daughter Suzie wrap her old friend Chloe in a bear hug. It had been years since Chloe’s family moved from the house next door, and we’d lost touch. We’d tracked her down—she had been living with her grandmother ever since her dad had passed away—to catch up on old times, share the news of Suzie’s recent marriage, and return a gift Chloe had given Suzie long ago.
Suzie used to babysit her younger friend, a job she always looked forward to. Chloe was a child prodigy on the piano, and Suzie admired her talents. “I wish I had a piano like she does,” she told me one night before bed. We said our nightly prayers, but this time she included something new. A prayer for her own piano.
“Don’t worry,” I blurted out. “God will give you a piano.”
What was I saying? My husband and I had scraped and saved for months before we could even afford Suzie’s lessons. No way could we buy her a piano.
Soon after, though, Chloe’s mom called. “We’re moving,” she said. “Chloe’s piano is too big to bring with us. She wants to know if Suzie will accept it as a gift for being such a good friend.”
Suzie jumped for joy. Her own piano! The beautiful music she learned to play in the years that followed always reminded us of Chloe.
Now that Suzie was moving into a new home with her husband, she wouldn’t have room for Chloe’s piano. We hoped Chloe would enjoy playing it again.
“Do you remember the piano your family gave us?” I asked. “Suzie can’t bring it with her…and we’d love for you to have it back.”
“The piano?” Chloe was silent for a moment. “I didn’t realize you still had it. You don’t know what this means to me, especially now.”
“Why is that?” Suzie asked.
She cracked a smile. “I’ve been wishing I had something to remember my dad by. That piano… it was a birthday gift from him.”
