I got a call yesterday. It was Matt from Strait Music. A guitar I wanted to check out had arrived. I’d forgotten all about it. Because the interest in the guitar was expressed in September of 2020. I went in, however, to check it out, because I figured any company who kept those kind of records needed to be rewarded. Besides, September of 2020 was a mere month after my wife died and I remember feeling like I needed a guitar back then.

Of course, it’s easy to get need and want mixed up. Actually, I suppose I simply wanted one. I remembered the first time I played it in the store months earlier. What I particularly liked was the neck profile. It was thin and fit my hand. I should have bought the guitar the moment I decided I liked it, but I hesitated, and it was gone when I came back. The clerk who waited on me said, she’d let me know when another came in. I took her card and called every once in a while, to check. Eventually, I threw away the card and forgot all about it. It was a long wait.

By the time I got to the store yesterday I knew I was going to buy the guitar and I did. Also, I bought three sets of strings and had them put one set on the guitar, replacing the factory strings. I also bought a hard case. They had a used one for $50. The guitar is now at my house, and I like it. It has a nice bright sound, great action, and it’s the first new acoustic guitar I’ve owned since my parents gave me one for my birthday in 1965. We’ll see how it all plays out, which I think might be a pun, but they’ve never been my forte. Neither really are my guitars, they’re just a hobby I love, but one of them did get me my wife. That old ’65 Gibson. And that might should be a song. We’ll see.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale