Guitar is my high

It was sometime in February (around this time) about 10 years ago when I got the greatest gift of my life...

When I first saw my guitar teacher he wasn't anything that I expected him to be. He had a leather jacket on, well dressed- slacks, tucked in shirt, nice shoes. He didn't have long hair, cool swagger, or any other stereotypes you expect from an established guitarist. My ten year old imagination was actually a bit disappointed- he even spoke in an eastern European accent. I didn't expect much out of this and just went along with it because I really didn't have anything to do at the time, being home schooled and all. He asked us if I had ever touched the guitar before and if we even had one in the house. Soon he went with my uncle to the store to go buy one. An hour or so later he came back with an acoustic nylon string. I felt crushed at this point. I was expecting some blue flying axe that had electric sounds blazing out of it.. but no it looked like the cleaner version of the dusty one we had back in India that my dad had brought years ago. He then started playing something on it, and I remember how everyone in the room just froze. We had never heard guitar like that before. None of us knew classical guitar existed and how sweet (melodically) it actually sounded. He played a tune that I recognized from an old Raymond Suitings commercial from TV. He was excited to see that I recognized his tunes... the bond instantly formed and he became one of the greatest people in my life for the next 7 years in my life.

Honestly though, I didn't realize then what a great gift my uncle had brought me that day. Playing guitar kept my mind occupied and got me through the harsh side effects of chemo therapy for a year. Later when I went to real school and had to deal with the emotional challenges of never fitting in, I could always go back home in the afternoon and play my guitar for hours and try to jam with the latest blink182 songs after practicing some classical music. That went on for years as I sat in my room playing guitar while everyone else I knew went to the eighth grade prom, homecomings, sadies, and later prom. By that time I had at least managed to use my guitar in school activities and felt a little better to share it with other people. In the mean time though, I really believe a person who made a lot better is my uncle. All he did was listen to me play while he would come back from a tired day at the hospital and fall asleep listening to me play. He had his favorites too, and made me play them on repeat like a cd player. Guess it was his way of coaxing me to practice... Soon I was in college and in my lonely room at Dobie on the twelfth floor without any roommates I would sit in the corner and keep playing. I might have to add it helped me get some friends too once they heard me play. It was my biggest source of confidence when meeting new people. Months later, at the time heartbreak it was one of my greatest friends. My guitar teacher was right, it would always be by my side. I kept playing and used it as a crutch to get back up again, really. I started pretending to play in front of an audience in my room and later started playing at actual shows.

Today I was driving back from my brothers place in South Austin and it randomly came to me at the intersection of a freeway that the guitar was the greatest gift of my life. I was without a guitar for two weeks in Austin and I didn't realize what was wrong but something didn't feel right. As soon as I went and rented one this weekend, everything felt a lot better. Everyday when I'm walking through campus I can't wait for the day to be over so I can go back and pluck some notes or try to play a new riff of a new song. It got me through the roughest times and also gave me the greatest highs all my life. If someone ever wants to know me better, I'd know what to tell them- just listen to me play guitar for 20 minutes, it's my better half anyway. I don't care how cliche this sounds but the greatest gifts are only those that you realize are great after a very long time.

Thank you.