October 10th, 2021
When I was a kid, my friends and I used to hang out and skateboard with the missionaries in our neighborhood. I remember when they left (Mormon missionaries aren't supposed to skateboard 😅) they said to me, "Don't stop skating!"
For some reason, that counsel stuck out to me as absurd. I remember thinking to myself, why would I ever stop skating? The idea had never crossed my mind. I believed that I would always be skating and I could see no reason to stop.
Fast forward 15 years (I am now older than they were at the time) and after "growing up," I better understand what they meant.
Earlier this year, my friend and bandmate Dylan[1] asked if I wanted to play lead guitar for some songs on his sister Collette's album. I hadn't played guitar in five months—since the time my son was born–and I knew my playing was going to be rusty, but I couldn't say no to the opportunity.
They had already started recording the album and were going to be finishing up in the next few days. So I pulled my guitar out of the closet and started practicing over the demos they had sent me.
Since I only had a couple of days to prepare there was no time to ease into it. I hoped my fingers would be fine but I soon faced reality; they had lost their calluses. I almost immediately got blisters on my fretting fingertips. By the time we were done recording, I had blisters forming underneath the first set of blisters.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
I soaked my fingers in rubbing alcohol[2] to dry out the blisters, took some Advil, and powered through it. This taught me you never know when you might be called to use your talents. You should always be prepared when it's your turn to shred.