Digressions: My Life in 500 Words or Less

So I missed a blog day this month, on April 15. But it was for a good reason: I had siblings visiting from out of state.

My little brother from Alabama, Victor, arrived four days after my little sister from South Carolina, Lisa, did. The latter stayed for about a week and a half, and the former stayed for just more than a week.

With those two siblings in town and the siblings already in the area, Glenn and Sandy, it was just shy of a full sibling reunion. Only our oldest brother from Arizona, Oscar, was missing.

To say I had a blast visiting with my siblings would be an understatement. We ate, laughed and jammed. Yep. We jammed.

You see, Victor and Lisa both play guitar, and I started playing just more than a year ago. My brother Glenn plays, too. All my siblings have played longer than I have and play much better.

Though Sandy has a guitar, she hasn’t played in some time, so she didn’t join us, try as we might to persuade her. She took on the role of announcer, loudly announcing information we needed to know, such as what fret the capo needed to be on or if the song we were about to play was a “no capo” song.

The visit with my siblings was filled with games, eating and fun, too.

But each day invariably ended with a guitar jam. Even when it was just Lisa and me, we practiced songs regardless of how well we could play.

The great thing was a jam session that included the four siblings and the boyfriend of one of my nieces. It was the kind of crowded house that resulted in such great energy it was undeniable.

I can’t say I kept up on my guitar during all the songs we played. I can’t even say I played through every song we played, but, as I told them, I could sing along.

And that kind of time spent together showed me how life and family can be in perfect harmony.