The subject for the Daily Photo Shoot for Wednesday, 27 February 2013 is:

Thank You for the Thank You...

The other day Paul came in with the mail and handed me an envelope with my name on it, the return address being that of my ex-husband, Bill.

Paul's such a good soul. No raised eyebrows, no snide comments, just handed me the envelope which looked like a card of some sort. It wasn't my birthday or anything, I was perplexed.

This is what was in it:



and on the inside:



I think you can read that. It's not too personal or anything so I feel I can publish it here OK. But if you can't read it, it says:

Dear Rebecca,

Your guitar is really a wonderful instrument. The deep tones are outstanding, and its overall voice is my favorite. I have a Gibson 12-string and a Martin Dreadnought, but I love yours the most. I play them all, but I noticed yesterday that I reach for your guitar 50 percent of the time. I can't thank you enough. I love it. It takes me back to memories I still enjoy.

I have had it refurbished somewhat, and I look forward to doing a few more things; new tuners and a new bridge. But even without those adjustments it is really a fantastic guitar. I love having it. It tunes true and it holds a tune longer than the other two.

It's like a time machine. Thanks again. And again.

Love,

(signed) Bill

What a nice card! Over on the left-hand side there is a Chinese proverb: "Happiness does not notice the passing of time."

I inspected the back of this card and apparently there is a web site where, for a fee, you can make your own cards, say whatever you want, have your own signature put in, and this company will make up your card(s), address them, put them into envelopes, stamp the envelope(s) with real stamps, and mail them for you to anyone you want. It's called SendOutCards (Changing Lives, One Card at a Time).

I think this is cool. In more ways than one. It made my day when I received this card from Bill. We may be exes, but we are and have always remained friends. In fact, Bill and his wife live only about a mile around the corner in Marblehead from us... it's about a 15 minute walk.

The reason for the thank-you about the guitar, if you don't remember me mentioning this a while ago, was that I had a guitar that had been stored under our eaves for years and years. Arthritis in my hands won't allow me to play it any more. I tried a few times to pick it up again, but like I told "Talking Stick" recently, you need to get calluses on the tips of your left hand fingers to play something like this and there was no way I was going to do that again.

So once I'd decided I was not going to play my beloved guitar again, I wrote to Bill and asked if he wanted it.



Bill and Rebecca on our wedding day in 1970, ready to leave for our honeymoon on Bailey's Island, Maine, which turned into a honeymoon in Rockport, MA in the end.

I had taught Bill to play guitar back when we were first courting (dating) in the mid 1960's.



L-R: Daddy, Bex, brother Chuck and sister Sarah probably taken in the early 1970s.


Since then he went on to buy and play guitars of his own right up to the present time. He used to write poems and then put them to his own music, and he'd sit in his little den (when we were married) and sing his songs all evening long... and although there were things about our marriage I'd rather not remember, listening to his songs was something I loved.

I was going to only ask $25 for it, and he said he'd like to give it to his daughter and teach her how to play, but when he came here he offered me $50 which I took happily. I knew it was in good hands.

Turns out that his daughter may not have wanted it, so Bill kept it, played it, and as you can see by what he wrote to me in this card, he is loving it.

Well, that is something I did that I am very glad I did. I thought I might regret losing my old guitar but I don't.

And to go to the trouble of having this card made up like this was a nice gesture of thanks from him.

{Thanks Bill, if you happen to read this.}

So there you go -- my next-to-last Daily Photo Shoot for February.

My friend, Anna, (who lives in the UK) left a comment yesterday that there is a site that gives prompts for photo-a-day ideas, and I've saved it and might consider it in the future, maybe when the weather turns better and I can get out more... in the spring.

Until next time...

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