The Death of a Loved One
Four years ago, on my mother’s birthday, she received an E-mail from my grandfather wishing her a happy birthday — right after a goodbye to Wurlitzer, my grandfather’s electric organ.
My grandfather loved to sit at home and play either piano or his electric organ just as much as a I liked to throw a baseball as a kid. Music in my family is inevitable; most members play at least one instrument, but when my grandfather’s favorite one broke, it was devastating. He also made sure the entire family knew as well.
When I was researching sources for this project, I started drawing on my grandfather’s strong passion for music, specifically the organ. It didn’t take long for me to remember this legendary email he sent my mother on her birthday, and I knew I couldn’t let the chance to put it into a project of mine pass by.
It seemed as if a close friend of his had died when I read the e-mail he sent my mother about the decline of his favorite organ. The e-mail about the “death” of the organ itself is pretty good and explains a lot about its preceding life. The message explains my grandfather’s attachment to the organ and his final minutes with the instrument and how the landfills would no longer accept organs. My favorite part of the e-mail is when my grandfather says how he remembers when he got the organ because that’s when he bought his ’55 Mustang (which he also admits that he misses).
At the time, four years ago, when I read this e-mail I didn’t think much of it. So what? My grandfather was getting rid of his organ. But, now it has occurred to me how much he loved that organ and how much music was a part of his life. Thinking about all of the instruments that he has played in his life, his favorite was the organ as he would play it often at church and, considering how much he liked the piano, I think that I would be a little upset as well.
