I Knew Him When

First off, I’d like to apologize for the super-slow approval of comments over the past two days. NtB is off on a trek with little/no computer access…and I thought I was going to be able to check the laptop more than once a day for the past two days. Mr. Twistie and I were on a hellride to Los Angeles and back again, and I keep being pathetically optimistic that this will be the trip where we get to stretch our legs and check our emails just a bit more often.

I know, I know, silly me.

Still.

The reason for the trip was twofold. On the one hand, we were picking up an amazingly gorgeous new guitar for Mr. Twistie. It’s got a rich, full tone to it and looks superfantastic besides. It’s going to record brilliantly, and it definitely made me weak in the knees and feeling like I had a mouthful of rich chocolate mousse in my mouth when he played it. I get flavors from sound, sometimes. It’s a strange thing, but by and large I really enjoy it.

Anyway, reason number two for the trip was to visit the gentleman who was selling Mr. Twistie the guitar (He works in a music store, he’s not a luthier in his own right). Our friend Chris is one of the good guys. He’s smart, funny, talented, loyal, a good cook…he’s got a lot going for him. He’s also getting married in two months to a superfantastic lady.

The funny thing to me is that a tiny part of me keeps thinking of Chris as a kid. Why? Because he was about twelve when we met, while Mr. Twistie and I were quite thoroughly grown.

At the time, Mr. Twistie had a regular gig playing acoustic guitar and singing in a local coffee house every wednesday night. He’d been doing it for several months when, one night, a little boy carrying a guitar as big as himself said he’d been learning to play and asked to sit in. Mr. Twistie humored the kid by letting him play a song or two. I wasn’t there, but when Mr. Twistie came home that night, he couldn’t stop gushing about this amazing child musical prodigy.

The kid (Chris) was back the next week, and the next…and the next after that. Pretty soon Mr. Twistie was actively engaged in expanding Chris’ musical horizons. I got to know him, too. Then we started in on introducing him to our favorite brands of humor. We also listened to his problems, gave him the best advice we had to offer, and learned a few things from him, too.

We’ve been invited to all the milestones in his life (well, the ones for at least moderately public consumption), and I like to think that Mr. Twistie and I have had some small part in making him the man he is today.

He’s not our kid. I’m not really sure I think of him in a motherly way. But there’s a tiny piece of me that I know will watch this wonderful young man stand at the altar in two months’ time and think ‘but he’s just a baby, really.’ I’ll see that eager little boy carrying the guitar as big as he was.

I just hope I’ll be clear-headed enough to see the kind and responsible man he is now, as well. I kind of love the person he turned out to be.