Never thought it would happen. Didn’t enter my mind, even the unconscious, IMHO. But what do I know? I’m no neurologist, heck, I’m barely even human. The thing about it is, you never know what you’re getting into when you sign-up for this bluegrass life.
Back in the year 1962, when I was searching for my identity, I attend a Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. Prior to that I was living in California, was an avid board surfer at the “Cliffs” in Huntington Beach, listening to the sounds of early rock-n-roll and the Beach Boys while driving down the not too crowded streets in my 1941 Ford Coup with a 1955 Chevy V-8 engine, while keeping all four of my eyes (two in the back of my head) on the lookout for California Girls. Bluegrass? What was bluegrass? Never heard of it, never saw it, never knew it had been invented by Mr. Monroe. Anyway, long story short, I found myself in divinity school in Missouri.
Irony what it is, I had to go all the way from California to Missouri to meet the “Surfer Bunny Girl of my Dreams.” She too was as this college of celestial learning, and after a couple of weeks on campus, there she was. Perfectly symmetrical face, slim, long blonde hair, and a beauty contest winner when she lived in California. Never mind how we got to where we met in Missouri, we just did. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and as they say, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” I jumped in, head first, feet first, almost everything I had. Another long story short, we got engaged. Another long story short, about seven months later my “inner warrior” called to me, and I joined the US Army, went to Europe, and got unengaged. Oh it was me, it was my fault, or choice, or whatever you want to call it. Youth and the call the adventure in the world had me in its pit bull grip. After that I never heard from or saw my aforementioned one-in-a-million girlfriend.
That was then, this is now. The then was fifty-three years ago. Soooooo, the now was last month when I got an e-mail from a lady who had seen my picture at the CBA Welcome Columnist/Bluegrass Music Teachers site. She wondered if I was the same person who was with the same person she was when we were the two people who we were back in Missouri way back then. How did she even know about the CBA website? Turns out that two of her adult children play bluegrass music, and then, well, yep, you get it.
So after a half-century of time on this old, spinning sphere we call Planet-Bluegrass, we exchanged a few e-mails, caught up a little, and renewed some long forgotten memories. We are now separated by about 400 miles (she in Southern California, I in Northern California), so going out to lunch for old times sake is out of the question (so far). She is happily married, has four children, and sixteen grandchildren. I am happily married with two children, and one grandchild. Life goes on. We make one decision, face the consequences, and live with or without it.
Now I’m thinking that when you “sign-up” for this bluegrass life, you should expect anything to happen. The good, the bad, the beauty, the controversy, the whatever, and the unexpected. It’s all good, even though sometimes it’s not, and that eventually passes. What a ride, and it’s still going on.
By the way, she forgave me.
