When I Reminisce of You

January 27th, I submitted a copyright application for "When I Reminisce of You." My mom received the copyright certificate roughly a week before we arrived in Missouri last month. That was a much faster turnaround than the last one I sent in (two months vs four months). That's two down, one to go. I'll probably submit that application in the next weeks. I'm confident it's ready to go, but I do want to pick through it before it's submitted for copyright. Too much happening here at this time for me to consider starting that process though.

I have yet to do a raw release of "When I Reminisce of You" on IG. As a beginner guitarist, I am struggling with the sound I'm looking for. I hear it in my head, which is common to how I write my lyrics. I generally start with some words and then a tune develops throughout. But I don't know enough guitar chords to find that perfect sound, and then add them as I write, which is frustrating. That being said, until I get chords put to the lyrics, I will not do the raw release of the song. And for other reasons, I'm not emotionally ready to release it. That time is soon coming, as much as I do not want to admit it. I have the copyright certificate in my possession now. That is one step closer to finishing my album goal. It's simply not time yet for anything else.

I'm taking advantage of the milder schedule at present to work on my guitar skills. I've been trying to write more as well. That is proving to be somewhat fruitful. I'm trying not to push it too much. Trying too hard proves to be the make or break for a successful writing session.
The ideas are flowing. But I'm struggling with the underlying message for a couple ideas that started pouring onto the paper. They're so poetic. It's almost old school poetry. But the message isn't clear enough. Oh, the joy of mincing words with pencil and paper...Time consuming, tedious work, writing songs can be.

Music is my muse. Every mood: Music. I needed music today. I finally got our possessions delivered to our storage unit in Missouri via a moving company (that is garbage by the way). That was a mess. This entire moving experience has been a nightmare. I'll leave all those details for another time.
The anxiety surrounding someone else moving our things is stressful enough, but as for my piano, I was nearly sick thinking about what could happen to it when I discovered the people we were trusting to move our things, were not up to the standards we expected. It was difficult enough waiting for the word that my cousin had it safely out of my grandparents' house in 2018. Then there was the stress of Mom driving it to California. Of course, my mother isn't an idiot, so there was far less stress involved in that. It was more the emotional stress surrounding the piano.

If you're unaware of how the piano came to be in my possession, the short version is this:
My grandfather had a heart attack, underwent bypass surgery, had 3 strokes while under the knife or in recovery, we don't know which, and then months later, died in a rehab facility.
My grandmother, who promised this piano to me when I was 4, did not put it in their Will that it was to be given to me. My uncle, who is a selfish, egotistical windbag, made everything a nightmare from the time Grandpa came to be in the hospital. He was secretly the Power of Attorney and liked to use that power to treat us (my mother, step dad, and sisters) like absolute garbage. It's insulting the way he treated us. And knowing my grandparents raised him better is embarrassing.
Anyway, we were required to purchase our grandparents possessions, with the exception of 2 small items and any photos that had us in them. I paid for any small items I wanted out of their house, in addition to $2,000 for the piano itself. When all was said and done, I paid $4,000 total: $2,000 for the vintage, upright, gutted of all mechanisms player piano, $300ish for sewing material and other small knick knacks, and Grandpa's shotgun, and the remainder was to rent the truck and pay for my mother's food and gas. So imagine, tailing this piano for months, my uncle being absolutely horrid, and I'm waiting for him to be spiteful and tell me he won't accept my money.
From the time my grandfather went into the hospital to the piano arriving at my house, I was in a dark place. That piano arriving was...truly music to my ears, and a ray of sunshine sitting in my house. My mom called her adventure the "You Are My Sunshine Road Trip." Grandpa sang "You Are My Sunshine" to us all the time when we were little. It felt like Mom brought Grandma and Grandpa with her that day.
Fast forward to today. My piano was nearly dropped off the ramp by the movers. And it wasn't a piano ramp, so they weren't properly prepared to safely take the piano off the truck in the first place. It could have been ruined. Thankfully I made it to the ramp in time to help them steady it. The last time I felt sick over this piano was when I was trying to purchase it, and it seemed like every way I turned, there was another hurdle and another snide comment from my uncle. Today felt like I was reliving that nightmare as I waited for word of the truck's arrival and then running to grab the back of the piano as they wheeled it down the ramp before it had the chance to go over the edge. Yeah, it's a piano. Yes, I could get another. But you journey through that same nightmare I did, and you'll be possessive of the thing you worked hard for as well. There is more than money tied into that piano. There are memories. Reminiscing of the songs played on that piano, is somewhat daunting. But it provides moments of emotional healing to run my hands across it and remember my child like love for the instrument.

What began as an update about my song, progressed into a little backstory as to how the song came to be. I don't plan my posts. My posts are mostly free writes that I edit for flow. So the fact it went this direction, I find to be interesting.
It's amazing how life experiences can traumatize or uplift you. And then you take either of those and turn it into something that others can relate to. Music does that. "When I Reminisce of You" does that.
Music makes people aware of the emotions of others, and makes those emotions, and political statements, and experiences relatable to everyone else. As connected as we are in this world, we are also quite disconnected. Music has a way of bringing people together. I believe this one will bring people together. That is my hope, that the message within it is written precisely as my grandparents would prefer, and that it brings people to know Christ through them. I believe I did right by them at least. We shall see what comes with the raw release.