My cousin invites me to a church benefit/charity concert. I've never been to the church before and I thought it would be nice to go so I accept. I get there and manage to walk around the church and into the back where they have a children's wing and other rooms. One of the rooms was what they called the "Children's Center" or library for kids. So I walk in and I glance around the place: Dr Seuss, Cat in the Hat, stuffed animals of monkeys and tigers, childrens books, big Beethoven statue, Jesus portrait... wait! Beethoven?? I jolt my head back and WOW! I see this huge statue that freezes me in my place. I'm staring at this thing with my jaw dropped to the floor. It's Beethoven! More specifically, it's a replica of the Beethoven monument in Vienna. You know the one: he looks like a god on a throne scowling down at all of us peons.
I could not believe that a church would have this and would even want it in their library. But more importantly, I kept pondering how this thing managed to get here. First, before I go on, you need to understand that I'm a fanatical collector of composer stuff: busts, prints, bookends -I've even got bumperstickers and bobbleheads- and when I saw this I was gazing on something I knew I had to have. So being the self-centered opportunist I am, I ask around about it. To make a long story short, I find out that they didn't even know it was Beethoven. They thought it was just "a nice man in a robe looking pious." Although this was sad, as anyone who has had elementary school music should know what Beethoven looks like, I seized the moment and asked flat out to buy it.
At first they were a little confused and in a complex series of events, I got distracted and eventually left the church. But I had the intention to come back and talk to the pastor who would be the best person to make a deal. I tell my cousin about this statue and he was so kind that he offered to talk to the pastor himself (them being friends) to see if he would trade or sell it. My cousin talks to the pastor and the pastor says he actually didn't even want the statue and would give it to me for free! This was too good to be true, and somehow I thought getting something great for free was wrong. I decided to make a large donation to their church (I won't say how much; but it's how much the statue means to me) and my cousin delivered this heavy marble-like statue just a few minutes ago.
Look, I'm in North Carolina and maybe they sell these things over in Vienna like hotcakes, but I'm still amazed I found this exquisite thing in a Church children's library next to a Pokemon stuffed animal. I'm downright excited to have this and it just looks astounding. The size of it is what blows me away; it's huge.
I wanted to share this with anyone interested so I took some quick pictures with my webcam. Sorry about the quality, but it's just to give you an idea of the statue's grandeur:
