In case you’re wondering whether I got enough sleep last night, I didn’t. I was cold and it took forever to warm up enough to fall asleep. And then I woke up in the middle of the night to turn off the heater because I got too warm. Sigh.

But I soldiered through the day without caffeine, and I did my workouts this evening, so wish me better luck tonight.

I’m in the process of finally re-stringing my guitars. A string snapped on my classical guitar a few weeks ago and I haven’t played much since, because the steel string that a friend gifted me last year is brutal on the fingers. I’m replacing them with Elixir® strings, which I’m told are much gentler. I never had to worry about that with nylon strings on my classical.

I fell into guitar playing quite grudgingly, really. Right at the beginning of high school I fell in love with the piano as well as with a handsome pianist. I’m not really sure which one came first. At any rate, I knew I initially liked the boy mostly for the magical sounds he coaxed from those black and white keys. Shallow? I know, I know! But that was high school.

I was lucky enough to get a bit of classical training in high school, participating in a couple of piano playing competitions on the heels of that. I even placed first in one competition and was invited to play at a Winner’s Concert for dignitaries. It was the highlight of my piano playing career.

In those days, I breathed, ate, and slept piano. Seriously. My dreams would be filled with my fingers flying across keys, perfectly playing Mozart or Schubert or Tchaikovsky. I was obsessed.

After high school, still wanting to make music, but not having access to a piano, a friend tried teaching me guitar. But my fingers were too tiny to circle the neck of his massive instrument, and the strings hurt my fingers too much, anyway. I decided that guitars and I just weren’t meant to be.

One afternoon, in Germany, quite by chance, I saw a guitar on display in a store I’d never noticed before. The guitar seemed perfectly sized for my small fingers, so I walked in, tried it out, checked out the price tag, and started saving for it. A few months later, I purchased it on sale.

Then began the arduous task of teaching myself how to finger chords. I found songs that I liked and learned their chords so I could sing along. I’m probably never going to be a guitar whiz (I’m not even trying), but I’m content to be able to sing and play simultaneously–that’s not half bad!

Well, I now have two guitars and never need be without music. That being said, the piano is still my first love. I get inordinately excited whenever I have the opportunity to play one, even though I am rusty and out of practice. I’ll always have a soft spot for pianos, but for now, I string my guitars and thank the heavens for their beautiful, portable magic.