So to add to the fun, Mio-chan brought in his guitar today and it just instantly made me smile. You see, it was a twelve-string. And there's something about a 12-string that just hits that internal chord with me (no musical pun intended). My dad had one, and my favorite memory growing up is when we'd go camping, and the whole family would be gathered around the campfire singing songs for hours. It never really dawned on me till I was grown and he was gone that not every family spent their summer evenings singing around the campfire.
Sometimes, I'd come downstairs in the evening and he'd be fiddling around while on the couch. He liked that better than watching TV, so sometimes he'd have the sound on mute and just be softly strumming. And it was so intimate, that softer side of my dad that was so paternal and warm and comforting. I'd run up and sidle up next to him to enjoy. Or sometimes, once I was a teenager, I'd secretly sit in my room and just listen, because, you know, that whole teen angst thing caused me to hide my love for my dad. But I really did love it. You could catch him twiddling away on our old porch swing (that he built -- he was quite brilliant with his hands), beer in hand, whiling away the summer twilight hours. It's just so magical now that it's gone.
It's those little things, you know, the memories of those special times, him playing the guitar, wandering down to the basement while he was fixing something in the shop, or later in Houston when he'd always be working on some new way to fix up our yard.
Now, both my brothers have taught themselves to play guitar as well. But they both have 6 strings and that special 12-string, well, it's one of those special possessions we keep at mom's house so we can all come home and enjoy it. It's like a personal portal to my dad sitting right there in the living room. Safe and comfortable. For some reason, though, I haven't managed to learn guitar yet, though I know the basics of guitar playing and can figure it all out. Maybe someday I'll really play... For now, though, my problem is that I just wanna be able to pick it up and play the same way I can play the piano or sing.
So anyway, Mio-chan was playing the guitar, and I asked him if he knew "Puff the Dragon". It turned out most everyone did. And Mio figured out instantly by ear (seriously, that never ceases to amaze me) the chord progressions and jumped right in. And so I sang it and shared my favorite song of all with them. That song, the song about the dragon and the little boy, has always been the most personal song we'd sing around the campfire. And seriously, EVERY TIME I hear it or sing it with a guitar like that, especially a 12-string, I can't help but cry. It just breaks my heart, the life lesson about growing up, moving on, and leaving friends behind. I guess that's why I'm so thrilled Jordan is back in my life. Because we didn't have to go separate ways like Jackie Paper and Puff. We're the unwritten coda where Jackie returns.
I didn't cry too much, though I can't say the same about writing this post, and Za-chan told me how much it made her heart happy. But to be truthful, to share that musical experience with them, even though I can't explain it any deeper than the fact that it's my favorite song, to share that experience is why I will miss Summer Party so terribly after tomorrow.
I tried to get Mio to play "Jeremiah was a bullfrog", my other childhood fave, and he didn't know it well and we ran out of time. Like me right now... the show is calling.
But that is why today was so special. Because, even if they had no idea it was happening, we shared the memory of my dad, one of the best men I know. A fact I celebrated in my junior recital encore that you could hear here if I could figure out how to make it work... Maybe next post.
Oh. And I introduced the Nihon-jin to PBJ sandwiches which received mixed reactions. Some loved, some didn't. I don't think they understood that it was a Topher-ism to put potato chips inside to make it crunchy! But I hoped that since I've tried all their oishii food, they wanted to try mine.
I guess we're making the world a little bit smaller one day at a time!
