The story of the Drums

Sean has always wanted a drum set. We started dating in November, and a few short weeks later when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas he immediately responded 'a drum set'. Since we were both poor students with no where to put a drum set he received a nice shirt or some other appropriate gift for a boyfriend of 3 weeks.  Four months (and a break-up) later when I asked him what her wanted for his birthday he again responded 'a drum set'. Since we had survived a break-up, and I liked him quite a bit I got him this:

It was the best I could do on a student's budget, and besides he had no where to put anything any bigger, especially because he was about to move to Edmonton for the summer. 

Summer came and we got engaged, we planned a December wedding (just 4 days before Christmas - sorry Mom) and I again asked him what he wanted for a Christmas/wedding present. You'll never guess what he responded - a drum set. 

And so for the last 8 years every time I ask him what he wants for either Christmas or his birthday, his first response has always been a drum set. At some point I told him he could get one as soon as we met 2 conditions:

1. We had a house to put it in
2. We had a sound proof room for it to live in (as more of a joke than anything - I like drums when they are played properly and not just banged on)

In all honesty it has become a bit of a joke for the two of us. I would point out kid drum sets in the store and in flyers and joke that I was going to get them for him. It would be years before we could afford anything as expensive as a real drum set.

When Sean finished Med school I really wanted to get him something to enjoy, nothing medicine related. But something he could unwind with. A drum set. It would be perfect, we had just moved to a bigger house that had a room that would be perfect for drums. It wasn't sound proof, but like I said drums are great when someone who knows what they are doing is playing them. Then I started to really look at what drum sets cost. That idea went out the window pretty fast. I even talked with him about it to see if we could justify such a purchase. We both decided we couldn't.

Then, just weeks before Christmas, I stumbled upon a flyer with a real drum set in it. They were incredibly cheaper than anything in a 'real' music store, and at first I was going to toss it aside and forget about them since there was no way they would be any good. Not for that price. But I just couldn't stop thinking about them. What if they were decent? I went to check them out. They seemed to be good, not that I'm a drum expert or anything. So I got them.

Now, what to do with them for the next 4 weeks? I drove to my parents house where we hid them in the basement. There they stayed hidden until Christmas Eve. While Sean was busy with something (possibly Christmas stockings?) Dad brought them in the house and into the room where they would live. Lurel, Dad and I were ready to get them all set up, only to discover they didn't come with any instructions (I mentioned they were cheap, right?) Luckily, Dad played drums in band way back in highschool, so we were able to figure it out without much trouble. The 'skins' were too cold to put on because they had been outside in the van all evening, so I left that for Sean to do in the morning. Just as I was double checking our set up with an online post, Sean came looking for me. He was this close to seeing the drums. I jumped and yelled and scarred him away just in time. I think I really did scare him. There was no way I was going to let the surprise be spoiled now! He totally knew something was up, but went along with my crazy excuses. He was probably worried I would start jumping and yelling again and remained well away from the forbidden room.

Christmas morning he finally got to see what was in the room that I had banned him from.

He's already spent countless hours putting the skins on, tuning them, reading up on techniques, and of course playing them and loving every minute of it.

You can now find him here most of the time:

I'm so glad I found these for him. True, they aren't the greatest but they are fairly decent and someday we will get better ones, but for now they keep him entertained :-)

Now, what on earth is he going to ask for for his birthday?