Jerry in 1970 playing a Gibson SG…

A few days ago, I was at the pool talking with my friend, Steve. He and I have collaborated on several photo projects, and it’s always good to chat with him about my writing, hobbies, frustrations — whatever is on that day’s plate when I see him. When I met with him last, I told him my goals for the summer.

“Steve,” I said, “every summer I do the same thing–take a spiritual journey, write a lot of stuff trying to figure things out: the past, the future. I drop a few pounds and do some writing. But not this year. That spiritual journey stuff is just too heavy, and I’m not into deep right now.”

He seemed curious about this revelation I was having. He shifted a little into his listening pose and offered, “I see. Go on.”

And I did. I proceeded to tell him about my approach to the next 66 days.

I’m still going to write, I told him, but not about the deep stuff. I’m just going to focus on my fiction, maybe get a few nonfiction pieces done. But what I’m really digging into is music.

He looked at me and smiled.

“You should do another 40-day thing on your blog, but this time make it about your music.”

Brilliant idea, I thought. And so, thanks to Steve, I’ll be blogging daily about all the regular stuff, but with a focus on my music, especially my resurrected love-fest with my guitar.

Right now, I’m playing with an Aria acoustic that my terribly-missed friend Chris gave me so long ago. And, if/when I stick with this long enough to be able to play for an audience of 2, or maybe even 3, I’ll check out that Gibson SG (now sold as a classic) that Jerry’s playing on in the photo above.

What’s the big deal, you might ask? How about this: I’m doing stuff that I’ve always talked about. Instead of pondering and studying and analyzing, I’m just doing. I’m not worried about what I haven’t done. Not worried about how good or bad I am or will be. I’m just playin’. Loving the connections and discoveries being made in just doing some summer strummin’.