I know, I missed some low hanging fruit by not putting my wife and kids up here. It seems like the obvious answer and you were all probably expecting it, but I think I’m assuming if you’ve followed me this far you are probably aware that I am mildly fond of them so why not talk about my other love?

What was I doing before I was a world-renowned awesome person, photographer of the century, and most handsome creature alive? Before the glam of parenthood and the never-ending joys of home ownership/repair? Well, you’d be surprised to know, I was a musician.

Ok, ok I do not want to get into semantics. I guess I still am a musician because I still play almost every day, but I rarely play for or with people anymore. I think it is just a byproduct of turning into an old hermit. But I remember passionately wanting to do it professionally. I didn’t care how. It was my dream; I didn’t have to think of the specifics of implementation. I was going to be a rock star and I was going to be rich.

And then the first strong slap of reality whacked me across my lovely face: I went to college for music. And it was incredibly difficult being forced to do something you love. If you have never experienced the scenario, it is hard to describe. The constant source of comfort and relaxation that I carried with me for years now became a source of anxiety as I was required to gamify my progress. I felt like I was slowly murdering my best friend, so… I dropped out of college.

In retrospect I don’t know what my motivations were for stopping. I don’t think I was old enough to be able to bear hard work yet, or it could have been that I didn’t really see a path that led to joy at the end of that journey. It has been too long to trust my memory, so I just closed the door on that chapter. I got married, had kids, went back to school and got a biology degree, and moved on with my life. But throughout the whole thing, when everyone falls asleep in my house, I can still pick up my guitar and lose track of time just like I could in my bedroom thinking about rock bands in seventh grade.

Do I still have grand dreams of rockstar-hood, and of playing live music for the masses? Do I want people to know the words to my songs, and to see covers of my music pop up on YouTube? No. Honestly, I do not. This thing is different to me now. Now I write silly songs to sing my beautiful daughters to sleep; I write my wife songs on Mother’s Day, and I learn all of the old songs I loved when I was younger just for me. Even though I feel like I need to just move on and grow up sometimes, this thing brings me joy. And at the end of the day, I think that is the actual, fabled meaning of life.

This is a picture of my Paul Reed Smith Wood Library Semi-Hollow Custom 24. It has a solid rosewood neck, a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and an incredible flamed maple top. I have loved this guitar in various colors since I was a child and it has been the background of almost every computer in my possession for nearly 20 years. This year I was finally able to get one, and it is better than I could have ever built it up to be. Until next time, stay classy San Diego.