The Piano That Traveled 6,000 Miles and Inspired a Children’s Book

Every family has a story. Ours just happened to be told by a piano.

Nearly a century ago, in 1920s Milwaukee, a young girl named Clara (my husband's mother) fell in love with music. Her parents gifted her a beautiful upright Steinway piano, which would go on to travel nearly 6,000 miles - across states, generations, and life chapters.

That same piano now sits in our home in Caledon, Ontario. It has been played, stored, forgotten, rediscovered, restored, and loved again. Watching its journey unfold through the stories told in our family inspired me to write Clara’s Traveling Piano—a children’s book about legacy, music, and second chances.

I wanted to capture the emotional truth of what it means to carry something forward—something that once mattered deeply to someone else, and still carries their love inside it.

Through the eyes of a piano, kids can explore big themes like family history, empathy, and change—without ever feeling overwhelmed. And for grown-ups, it’s a gentle reminder to pause and ask: What stories live in the objects we keep?

If you’d like to meet this very special piano, you can read the book here.

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