Learning The Accordion

Accordion playing the strings of my heart with joy and sadness, my Grandfather having had two of them from Sicily, he'd never let me touch or play them though. Always wanting to learn how to play one, to this day not owning one of my own, yet I did learn how to play because my Aunt was taking lessons and bought one. Picking up the beginning book, learning the fingerings, playing songs right away, because of learning how to read music when only in first grade. First time I held it gently, lovingly, filled with mixed emotions, joyful to the nth degree, playing it for hours on end, my Aunt re- marking how this was the first time ever even holding an accordion. Being upset with herself, not me, proud of what I could accomplish in just a few hours, she had to pay for lessons and was still work- ing on learning her first song.