It had been a long couple of weeks. Between the transition from the school year to summer, a long road trip and making sure I was prepared for my clients, I really hadn’t taken the time to workout. I finally carved out an hour to go down to the basement for some high intensity Spartacus intervals. On so many levels I needed it.
On my way upstairs to change into a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt, Katie called to me from the living room.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can you show me how to play some chords on my guitar?”
She had received the guitar as a present many years ago, but had never really picked it up. Over the last year she has been playing a lot of piano on her own (she’s almost as good, if not better than I am now), but I think the performer in her would love to be able to stand on stage with a guitar in her hands.
My workout was calling to me. All I wanted to do was go downstairs and sweat for 60 minutes. I took another step up.
“Please?”
How could I say no. Katie is 13….13 going on 26. Having spent time with my father-in-law this past weekend, I am all too aware that our babies grow quickly, time compresses, and change happens in the blink of an eye.
I sighed. I can’t honestly tell you whether I sighed because I wasn’t going to get a much needed workout in or because I had a realization that time is flying by. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. Regardless, I came back down the stairs and sat down with Katie.
The next hour was a mix of teaching her some basic chords (A, Am, G, D, C, F, E) followed by a jam session where she sang a bunch of songs I don’t know, while I played the ax. It helped that all the songs had pretty easy chord progressions. It didn’t take long to get in sync, not just rhythmically, but expressively as well.
Ultimately, connecting with my kid was a heck of a lot more satisfying that any 60 minute workout could have been…I just hope nobody saw me jamming on her pink guitar.
Run Luau Run 