The way you do the things you do

The Mom's car wasn't done yesterday. The Sis and her mate ran off on a mini vacation. We cancelled Bible Study and that left me with nothing to do. Well, ok, that is a lie. It left me with nothing I wanted to do. I still have some gardening to get done before fall and really need to get after it. I might later. Or tomorrow. Maybe.

That's kind of how it's been this week. Kind of blah, who cares, naw, that doesn't sound like fun, maybe later. Wishy Washy. Hormones or something, I guess.

But I have the little red guitar to play with. After I did chores and ate I pulled it out and started tuning it. I knew it wasn't staying in pitch well. When I couldn't figure it out I decided to run it over to a friend's place and see what he said. After playing with it, like I knew he would just because it's little and cute, he recomended another guy in town take a look at it. What the hay. Why not? Right?

Except the other guy was in high school with me. He was 4 years older than me so I didn't know him real well. He was in THE band that was the coolest and he and his brothers all had Beatle hair cuts before anyone else. He is a whiz on lead guitar and I am still stumbling with my plain old rhythm and chords. I don't think we have said more than 5 sentences to each other in my whole life and it was almost ten of the clock at night.

I was always tongue tied around those boys. Intimidated. And he didn't talk much. My family went out on their family's pontoon once and my little sister walked right off into the water. Totally scared all the adults. But guess what? At four she could dog paddle so she didn't drownd but, amazingly enough, she could swim underwater like a fish! We were freaking out, man!

And I dreamed about this guy about a year ago. He was working somewhere that had something to do with water/dams/boats and my mom and I went there. We spoke a while then he and I started singing harmonies. I was supposed to meet him and more people some place so I was walking across the town where I grew up lugging my guitar case. That's all I remember...I didn't write it down like I should have. And he doesn't sing, he just plays guitar.

I would never in a million years put him on a list of people I would be visiting. But what the hay and away I went. I found the place. He has a lovely home and a truck, a little older than mine but the same style, for sale. I walked up and rang the bell in the not dark, it was a beautiful almost full moon last night. I told him my other friend sent me and then showed him the little guitar. He invited me in, got my name right out of the four he could guess from, asked about my Dad and we sat in the living area where his tools were laid out on the end table.

It was an all cream colored home and non smoking. I didn't touch anything! As he fiddled with parts of the guitar I had no education on and fussed with it I learned that he has a sooothing speaking voice, that they used to take their amps to my Uncle to repair, that his brother is still around and married twice with five kids, that he is popular with said neices and nephews in that they got him a guinea pig because they though he needed a pet and he calls it "Buddy". He is an avid Ebayer, laid off, a die designer and builder and enjoys performing still. They are playing over on the coast this weekend.

I had messages from our mutual friend. We talked about school a little and all the time his really long fingers were fussing with the little red guitar. He says if I just get the keys he will change them for me so I will run out and get them this week sometime. Then little red and I can play!

He got a phone call and that tied him up a while just as I was thinking I had better get on the road. It was getting later all the time. I waited though. I hate to make my polites with hand signs. He was gracious and courteous and I went from too tense to move to almost relaxed as we visited. It was another lesson in judging on appearances for me.

This man is small, almost delicate in build, but with a strong musculature binding his bones together. He looks a little like Humphry Bogart. I think I could break him in half if I sneezed. I feel like a huge, smelly cow next to him. But that was my perception, not anything he did to make me feel that way.

I always thought he was stuck up but I think he was just quiet. When he does speak it is knowledgeably. He owned a music store for a short time while I was out traveling. He has played in public since he was about 14 I guess. I would be too afraid of looking like an idiot to play in front of him or OMG, with him playing some leads.

Inspite of all my mixed feelings about this experience it was good. I learned we have a few things in common and that he can not only speak but be funny. When I take little red back to get her new keys I will try to tell him some of this. He had a brain and it worked. I didn't know that about him either.

So, once again, let me stress - get acquainted with those you are in contact with. Those neighbors may be able to whup the pants off you at your favorite game or have talents you can enjoy with them. Just say a friendly hello and see what happens. I really do this a lot but still have times like this when I am taken by surprise again.

I drove home in the moon light. One night last year when the moon was supposed to look huge, as it was so close to us on rising, I got the mate interested and we drove out to see the moon rise in the little red truck. We drove and drove because we got started a little early. He took me four towns over to a Dairy Store because he knew I loved coffee ice cream and had been craving it. They didn't have any but he got us some treats there and then told me what he was up to. We had to beat feet to get back to good viewing country then, before the moon came up. We drove along, eating our ice cream and chatting and finally spotted it peeking over the trees in the fields. It was almost one in the morning when we got home. It was a neat and fun thing to do.

Driving home alone last night I was so glad we were the kind of people to walk into a storm, view the sky, see the auroras, stop to pick flowers and maybe wade in a lake together. We wasted some of our time, all humans do, but not as often as we made it count for us or others. I know that I am more aware of what I am doing to help my people get what they need to be happy now from the way we were to each other, from the way he was to me.

I got home and the dogs were wagging tails at the gate to be let in with me. The cats lined up at the door by my feet. They were all glad I was home. They missed me while I was gone.