Marriage Equals Compromise

While I have my heart set on buying a new house, turns out my husband has his heart set on a new piano. Pianos are not as expensive as houses, obviously, but they do rival car prices. Trevor has been playing on the above piano for 2 years and that door you see in the background is our front door, so you can see we do not have room for a big piano much bigger than what is there now.

While I was out being a do-gooder and volunteering last Saturday, my husband went on a little adventure with a friend of ours and they spent all afternoon looking at pianos and playing pianos and finding out prices on pianos.

And he fell in love with this piano:
Of course, I about had a fit when he told me it was $5200! (Plus tax!)

I know he has been thinking about this a lot and the piano he has now is pretty inadequate. But I was thinking he could find a nice upgrade for around $2000. Little do I know about pianos, obviously. But it does come with a warranty and regular tuning is included in the price too.

This will take a big chunk out of our house down payment fund and as the piano is strictly for him and not me, I am rather selfish about it and would prefer to save the money for a house for the both of us. I at least was able to convince him to look at other options, look on Craig's list, and get another friend of ours that plays pianos to come down and look at the one he wants.

But still. Sheesh. I know it will make him happy but there is nothing comparable that I want or need in my life so I don't get it.

Except that there is something that I want and need in my life that Trevor has been holding back on for 3 years: a dog.

So when he came downstairs the next day and said he had a compromise, I was thinking a cheaper piano and then he said I could get a dog if he could get a piano. And that changed everything. A Cardigan Corgi puppy would be a very good compromise in my estimation.
He is still not rushing out to get this piano and a dog could take months to find. But you have to remember that marriage is a compromise. And even if the piano isn't for me directly, it would make him happy and that it turn makes me happy.