Something really amazing happened this summer...

Shortly after we got home from the summer tour, the family and I went walking around Old Towne Orange. If you've spent any amount of time with me, you know this is very typical. I spend a lot of time in Old Towne Orange.

This particular day was not like the others. We walked into one of our most frequented antique stores and began to browse.

We've always found some cool stuff in here. In fact, Michael bought the biggest belt buckle of his collection here (those of you who've seen it know what I'm talking about).

Something caught our eye. It was a classical style guitar with nylon strings, just minding its own business! I picked it up and began to play it. The first thing I noticed was that it was tuned a whole step lower than the average guitar.  The tone was reminiscent of Heaven's harps (those of you who've been to Heaven know what I'm talking about).

The consensus around our family was that we liked the guitar a whole lot. Dad asked me if I wanted to buy it. This is a very dangerous question to ask a guitar player. I remember Ricky Skaggs asking me once if I knew how many guitars a guitar player needs. His answer was "just one more". But, I decided to be as mature as I possibly could endure and I told Dad that I didn't want to buy a guitar on impulse. Then we all walked away.

For some reason, that tortured me all day. I had a really nice guitar in my arms, and we all loved it, and I just set it down and walked away. The torture was basically unbearable (those of you who've been to Phoenix in July know what I'm talking about). Had I no heart?! Had I no soul?! Had I enough guitars?!  Yes, Yes, and No.

That evening, my siblings and I attended an alumni event at Chapman University. We had a good time hanging out with fellow alumni, catching up with people we hadn't seen in a while, eating chicken and stuff. I had made a post on Google+ earlier that day that read:

Little did I know, that my Mom (who barely ever uses Google+) had read it, and then wrote this comment on it:

Boy did they surprise me. Dad and Mom snuck back into It's About Time Antiques and secretly bought the guitar while I was away. When I got home that afternoon, I sat down with my new guitar and played and played and played. I wanted to think of a way to adequately thank my Mom and Dad, but nothing I thought of seemed to be enough, and besides I think they already have a $20 Bass Pro gift card somewhere. 

So, I decided the first performance on this guitar would be a song I dedicate to them. Mom and Dad, this song is for you:  

Thanks again!!