MARY: “Guess what! My Mom gave me her home organ. I may have it any time we can figure out how to get it moved from her house to where Alexei and I are moving. It’s really heavy!”
SARAH: “Cool! Okay, let me check with Joel. Maybe we can help you and Alexei with the move this weekend.
Mary was a good friend of my daughter-in-law Sarah when they were both students at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. Both were working on graduate degrees in art therapy. It so happened Mary and future husband Alexei were setting up housekeeping in a cute cottage in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The video, filmed one weekend in 2004, shows what ensued, an uplifting organ transplant indeed.
C. Joel Beaman Used by permission
Have you ever moved a heavy (or unwieldy) item?
What was the outcome?
Happy New Year!
May all of your burdens in 2024 be joyful and light
Good morning and Happy New Year, Marian!
Quite a project! We used professional piano movers for our piano each time we moved (it’s a baby grand), but we have done some heavy lifting over the years!
Oh, a baby grand! Does that mean you or Doug play the piano, or was the instrument inherited? Curious minds want to know! 😀
The piano was the one we had while I was growing up. I took piano lessons till I went to college, but I was never a great pianist. I probably could have been decent if I practiced more. 🙂 Our kids took lessons, too–piano and voice.
Learning to play an instrument, usually a piano first, seemed to be a rite of passage in our culture and community. Thanks for the follow-up.
Wishing you good times in 2024, Marian! Always enjoying your posts!
Jack, oh faithful reader, THANK YOU and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! 😀
I love the date on this video. Those 200 years whizzed by fast. 🙂 And yes, we have moved a piano twice without professional help. It belonged to a seminary professor’s family at EMC Seminary at the time (I forget his name). Always always scary. (The professor’s wife came to your book reading at VMRC back in Oct. 🙂 )
Ha ha, at first I thought an organ transplant of a different kind. This was uplifting- thanks Marian!
Susan, the title is a pun, of course, and I’m glad you fell for it, my intention. I’m glad you found it uplifting! 😀
Melodie, now I’m curious about who I met at the reading in the Strite auditorium last fall.
About the futuristic date, I did notice it in preview but forgot to change it later in my YouTube channel. (You still have the eagle-eyes of an editor.) Haha!
One of the reasons we have never owned a piano, the nightmare of moving it. (The other reason is that neither of us can play the piano!) A great video. Have a super 2024!! (and 2204)
Thanks for the touch of humor here in your comment, Darlene. Yes, have a super 2024.
(I did comment to Melodie [above] about my being aware of the crazy date of 2204, but forget to go back to my YouTube channel to change it.) 😀
😄😄😄😄 That was indeed an uplifting organ transplant!
Happy New Year to you, Marian! Thank you for the smiles you provided with this.
I have helped people move, but never moved anything like that. Mattresses and box springs can be very unwieldy!
Mattresses are the WORST, it seems. The older they are the heavier they get, I suppose because of all the body oils and other leakages they accumulate over the years. Thanks, L. Marie! 😀
Happy New Year, Marian! Here is a Youtube for you and your family to enjoy: https://www.google.com/search?q=laurel+and+hardy%2C+marx+brothers%2C+moving+piano&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS639US644&oq=laurel+and+hardy%2C+marx+brothers%2C+moving+piano&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigAdIBCTE3ODc5ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6443708c,vid:5GhuJlbCAxQ,st:0
We moved a few pianos with the help of friends. I can see why those electronic keyboards are more popular now!
The Laurel and Hardy video provided the perfect slapstick humor in a waiting room this morning. I kept the volume low but laughed out loud a couple of times. Thanks, Shirley! 😀
Glad it was an instrument and not a body organ, Marian! Although those are great when you need them! Our daughter and her husband did this with a piano early in their marriage when they still lived in an apartment
I’m glad you caught the pun, Elfrieda.
Probably only the young (or, younger) people would attempt such a feat. 😀
Wow! That’s friendship, strength, and love of music and each other. I’m glad they made the move with no errors. This is the kind of thing Vic would have done as a young man, so I enjoyed their youthful enthusiasm. Happy New Year, Marion. May there be peace in this angry world.
Cooperation is wonderful and that included friendship, strength, and love of music in this video as you observed. All four were in the arts and enjoyed making and editing which began as an iMovie. I join you in a wish for peace in this chaotic time.
Thanks, Elaine. 😀
That is one dicey proposition! The last adventure in heavy lifting for us was a few years ago when my mother went into assisted living. The object in question was a huge, massively heavy wood desk (I’m guessing 1920s vintage) that had been my dad’s. Of course, my study is on the second floor. My husband is a master of logistics from his Navy days, and the desk made it into the study intact with no damage done to the desk, my husband, or his helpers. (I’ll admit that I couldn’t watch.)
I’ve seen those vintage, massive desks. They often feature a roll-top and tons of pull-out drawers, which add weight. Happy to hear your husband was a master of logistics during the move and sized up the project perfectly.
Thanks for adding this anecdote, Liz. 😀
No roll-top, just a massive desktop and very heavy drawers. The finish is ruined, and I was going to refinish it, but all the water rings, scratches, gouges, and screw holes had too many memoirs of times with my dad. I love that desk!
Aww, thanks for the follow-up!
You’re welcome. I guess I’m incurably sentimental.
What a wonderful gift and how nice of Sarah to offer to help!
Only yesterday, Peter and I had a Wattbike (weighing 40 kg) delivered by 2 men in their 30s who refused to take it upstairs, blaming Head Office policy, even though Peter had stated that item would need to be placed upstairs when he made order. I am 60 and Peter 58 and it took us all of 2 minutes to take it up. We were disgusted by service, but proud of our combined strength. Complaints have been made to delivery outfit.
What a timely post for your ventures yesterday. Ha!
I’m guessing the delivery men were either lazy or fearful of liability. You and Peter are very fit, so I’m not surprised you accomplished the job. Still, you didn’t get good delivery service. May you have more uplifting moments in 2024, Fatima! 😀
Recently I was looking for some other photos on an external hard drive and I discovered this little movie that was made several years ago. When I saw it again I had to smile. The background music and photos combine to tell an accomplishment that you don’t want to repeat too often 🙂
Thanks to you, my dear, others got smiles out of one of Joel’s 2004 videos you discovered again just in time for 2024. <3
What a feat! They should feel good about their accomplishment. When we were moving south, my best friend really wanted our sleeper sofa. I think you can guess how heavy that would be! She sent her husband, her brother-in-law and his truck, and the 4 of us managed to lift and drag, lift and drag it out of the house and slowly to the truck. Never again haha. What we do for those we love. ♥ Thanks for an “uplifting” post Marian! 😉
Yes, Melanie, I know the weight of a sleeper sofa: sofa + bed all in one. “What we do for those we love” says it all. Obviously, we would never attempt such a feat these days. Trips to a chiropractor or orthopedic surgeon may result–ha! 😀
Lol!
The saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” comes to mind. There are so many ways this could have turned out badly, but they pulled it off.
Right! With your Can-Do attitude, I can imagine you being part of an enterprise like this, especially during college years as shown.
Happy New Year, Pete!
Happy New Year, Marian. Your video revived memories of our first 3 story house that had a spiral staircase so anything that was for the second or third floor had to come in through the second floor window a very similar scenario to the organ …Lucky like in your video nothing went wrong as we all know that it could have…Happy Days 🙂
A three-story house with a spiral staircase sounds charming–even romantic–until you try to move furniture and equipment. That’s another story!
Before we moved to our one-story home over 7 years ago, we lived in a tri-level house with similar “moving” problems as you describe. Yes, I’m glad nothing went wrong in either scenario: damage to furniture OR humans–haha! Happy New Year, Carol!
Hi,
I have a wide grin on my face. When I first moved into my first apartment in Niederdorfelden, my upright piano which was made in South Africa out of Mahogony wood had to be moved to where I lived. That upright piano is a beautiful baby. I have had her now for some years. The company Dietmann in South Africa made her and that was my first piece of furniture. Before I bought a bed, I bought that piano. Well, anyway, it took a piano specialist to take her apart so that they could move her upstairs to my apartment. It was a lot of work because the piano was very heavy and exquisitely made. I’ve had many offers for my piano, but I’m not selling. I’m just thankful that she sits in my living room, even though I don’t play her as often as I should.
Thank you for sharing a part of their story. It is amazing what artists will do to take their instruments with them.
Happy New Year and success in all you undertake in 2024.
Shalom shalom
Shalom, shalom, Pat. Here’s to a wildly successful year for you too in 2024. 😀
You certainly have your priorities straight, for as an artist you say, “Before I bought a bed, I bought that piano.” I’m smiling now too. We’ve had a piano in our home for a long, long time. Even though I don’t play it as often as I wish, I know it’s there. During the Christmas season, I played carols, singing along. I even dug out My Mennonite Hymnal and played a few New Year’s songs last week. Playing piano is a good stress-reliever and nostalgia-nudger, that’s for sure! 😀
It makes me smile knowing the organ found a new home where it was loved. We’ve moved sofas and hutches, but not an organ. That seems like an insurmountable challenge, but obviously can be done.
Just a few days ago I saw a truck parked on our street with the ad “The Piano Movers,” very sensible, of course.
But then, where’s the story? 😀
Hi Marian, an interesting video. What a job!
Yes, indeed!
I just read your Lion-themed verse. You definitely succeeded in imitating Bobbie Burns’ style. 😀
It kinda reminded me of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, thankfully without the crash at the end. ROFL
Happy New Year!
Love the comment, thanks for reading, and happy new year to you too, Jenn! 😀
Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive! That was quite the experience/adventure/exercise!
The closest Len and I ever came to something like that was when we moved into the carriage house in Boise. Circa 1865, the doors are NARROW, but the windows are large. Len removed a window so we could SQUEEZE the couch into the house.
I remember your move to Boise, and I can imagine your hardy and limber Len doing the calisthenics necessary to situate your couch. Thanks for sharing! 😀
Not the first thing I thought of with ‘organ’. Whew! Glad it worked out.
Jacqui, I’m glad you “fell for” the double meaning–haha! That was my intent. Thank you.
Wow! Great video. We had a piano for years and our kids took piano lessons. One day one of the parakeets (either Sweetie or Tweetie) got out of the cage while I was cleaning it and flew behind the piano. My guy had to move it gently while I rescued Sweetie (or Tweetie). Sore back for weeks. 🙃
Good one! You always have a story that matches the theme. I rarely clean the piano unless the tuner is coming, but I think you were referring to cleaning the parakeets’ cage. Thanks for tuning in, Pam! ;-D
What an operation, Marian! Getting it upstairs was quite a feat. Thanks for sharing this! Before we were married, my husband and my brother helped me move from one apartment to another. I had a huge dresser that was mine when I was a girl. I can’t even guess how heavy it was. Unfortunately, the three of us were no match and we left it in the apartment. I took the mirror from it though!
Ugh! I guess someone else got to primp in front of your beloved girlhood dresser. At least you got an anecdote to share here–thanks, Barbara! 😀
I kept it a secret from my mother because she would have been upset. It did come up about 20 years later, though.
As they say, “The truth will ‘out’!” But at the right time though, it seems. Thanks for the follow up here, Barb!
They appear to be very competent-do they hire out? 🙂
Ha! Ha! My son and daughter-in-law (with friends) were college students then, young risk-takers. In their fifties now, they life lighter weights. 😀