pickin'

Yesterday, I was presented with an Ibanez V50JP dreadnought-style acoustic guitar!

It had belonged to Lisa's son, Jacob. She knew that I wanted an acoustic guitar; it was hard to miss - I mentioned it fairly often. Jake owed her a little money and she offered to forgive the debt if he could give me the guitar. As he now possesses an electric guitar and amp, giving up the acoustic doesn't leave him without an axe.

His primary concern was that the value of the guitar was much less than the amount he owed. Her response was, the money was far less important than my happiness.

I love her more than words can express, and am glad to have Jacob as a part of my new family.

The clarinet was my first instrument. I played it from the fourth through the eighth grades. At the age of sixteen, I started working at our town's public library and spent my first paycheck on a used electric bass, which I managed to keep for twenty years. It was eventually left at a girlfriend's house. I moved out of town without having the opportunity to retrieve it.

During that twenty years I bought an electric guitar. Within a few years of the end of my marriage, my wife bought me another (much nicer) bass. Shortly after she left me I gave that bass to my then nine-year-old son, since it reminded me too much of her and he was already showing musical talent - which has grown exponentially during the years since. He is now twenty-one and has played with many bands. Now he has his own band, of which he is the only member. He writes the music and lyrics, then plays all of the instruments himself.

About a year after losing my first bass, I bought another one - an acoustic. In 2005 I had to sell that to help pay my rent. But I still had the electric guitar until 2006, when it was stolen by a crackhead who was visiting my roommate one night while I spent the night elsewhere. Since then, I have been sans strings and thus without the opportunity for creative release.

Between the ages of sixteen and twenty, I played in a succession of several bands. After that I still played bass and guitar alone, daily, except for the occasional jam session. During the periods when I had no instrument, I always hoped for another to come my way.

Now it has finally happened again. I feel truly blessed and loved.