A boy, a guitar

So there is a story behind the story here, it’s the story of the guitar that needed a home. Gretchen’s father, Jack, is a fantastic musician who has been searching for a protégée for over 16 years now. In fact, the first time I met Jack he had a guitar around his neck as he welcomed me in their home. As I became a regular at the house, Jack often greeted me with, “Hey come here and check this out” as he played some new riff he was working on. Jack bought this guitar hoping John (Uncle John) would take interest. When John wasn’t interested, he fixed his sights on me and try as I might, it just didn’t take. I even took it to Texas and kept it prominently displayed on a stand in our living room for a year. After conceding that it just wasn’t to be, the guitar made it’s was back to Illinois where Joy (Aunt Joy) gave it a shot. In fact, when she moved to Texas, so did the guitar, where it sat in the corner of her room. Yes, back to Illinois the guitar went where it was placed… under a bed until Gretchen decided to sign me up for guitar lessons Christmas last year. Yep, you guessed it; back to Texas the guitar traveled. So after another failed musical endeavor by me, crushed visions of a protégée by Jack, wanting expectations of a music filled home by Gretchen, and many thousands of miles traveled, the guitar has found its home in the hands of our son. AHHH, finally a match made in heaven.

After the lengthy introduction to the guitar, now about Jake. Jake has been interested in music for the past couple of years and we finally decided it was time. So we enrolled him with Ryan, who I met during my latest failed attempt (see above.) Ryan is a great teacher who is passionate about music and really connects with his students. After a few short months, Jake is reading music, playing notes, and strumming a few chords. During his recent recital, which we refer to as his official debut, he played his selection solo. Jake enjoys his new skill and has even treated us to an in home concert or two. What a pleasure it is to watch Jacob accompanying Sophie on the piano.

Watch out music world, Jacob is on the seen.