Two years ago my parents decided to put $1000 in my American bank account for my birthday so I could buy myself a sewing machine in France. The idea was that I needed a 220 volt machine and I needed to buy it at a local store that offers classes, which ruled out my mom picking one out for me in the States or ordering it over the internet.
At the time, we lived in Ariège, and it was rather impossible to come up to Toulouse for classes to learn how to use the machine.
So the money sat in my account.
Two years later, I still haven't bought a machine. I kind of liked the idea in the beginning, and it's true that a sewing machine can be handy. But now that I'm actually close to a few stores, we no longer have a place to store a machine (besides the basement, which means never ever using it...).
More importantly, I don't really care about having a sewing machine anymore. What I would enjoy and use much more often is a piano. A neighbor of ours plays the piano every once in a while, and it reminds me of how much I like to sit down a play something. I'm no prodigy, but playing through piano reductions of famous symphonies or my Gary Lamb song book is really rewarding for me. I've been listening to a lot of Philip Glass recently and I'd love to play some of his Metamorphosis solo piano pieces.
But if we don't have room for a sewing machine, you can imagine B's reaction when I mention trying to fit a piano in here. There is a stretch of wall we could put one against, but it would force the dining table out into the middle of the room and make it difficult to get over to the couch or balcony doors. The piano will have to wait for our next appartment.
My mom hasn't given up on the sewing machine idea though. Just last night she was iming me about all the research she'd done recently in order to recommend the best machine for me. She went on and on about where and what and how, but finally admitted that our appartment is a bit small. I jumped on that and repeated several times and ways that we have no space for a sewing machine.
I'm worried about one day no longer having the space excuse though. The whole idea was dormant for almost two years, but now my Mom hasn't become very pro-active. I personally think it's just a project that takes up her time and energy, instead of dealing with other things, and I'm worried by how invested she's become in the idea of me sewing. How am I going to say "I don't want a sewing machine" to someone so utterly convinced it's something I can't live without?
2 comments:
I love that your mom knows how to IM. Is it just the space for the machine or the whole "sewing room" that goes along with it? The machine is such a nice idea, it's the obligation to use it afterwards that sounds like the problem.
If you live in an apartment I think it's actually against tenancy law to play it, we just looked into the noise laws recently as we have a neighbor upstairs annoying us by playing bass guitar through an amp and playing pianos in apartments was specifically mentioned, so if you do decide to follow through on it you should probably check out the laws first so you don't get any complaints to your landlord (which would be hypocritical considering you already have one neighbor playing but you never know I guess).
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