I wanted to spend a little time talking about a very precious gift I received for Christmas from my wife. Those of you that know me know how much I love playing guitar. It really is a love that I have developed over the years. The truth is I was born holding a microphone. I always loved singing and it came pretty naturally to me. I am not bragging on my voice by any means. I would love to have the voice of a Bono, Phil Collins, or a Rich Mullins - something unique and beautiful. However, I am not much of a front-man. I do not have a dynamic personality and that definitely comes across in my singing. So I decided in high school to learn guitar – I needed something to hold to take away from my dryness. It did NOT come naturally. It hurt, my fingers bled, and it really wasn’t much fun. When I got to college I was surrounded by guys who played guitar. I would say 50% of the guys at my college played guitar in some shape or form. That is when I really began to learn guitar. Eventually, I became a worship leader for a season of my life. That is when I developed a taste for good guitars. There is a difference between guitars and I would say I am a little nerd when it comes to guitar sounds.
I have surrendered my acoustic sound to the Taylor brand. I love their product, I love their company. I love the care that they put into their instruments. However, I do not make a living well enough to buy a Taylor guitar. Any savings I manage to scrape up typically gets put back into my family, not my hobby. Yet, over the last few years I have been truly blessed. (Be patient, I am getting to the point of this blog soon enough). I own three guitars right now - 1 electric and two acoustics. My electric I bought on my own. It is a cheap old Epiphone Les Paul. It really isn’t much but it has a great paint job that my father gave it. I think I paid like $40 for this guitar and dad gave it like a $500 paint job – haha. Let me get back to the point. My main acoustic is a Taylor GA3 and it is amazing. It was a gift given to me by some donors that choose to remain anonymous. I could never have afforded this guitar and I use it often. I am very gracious to them. A bonus is that it was signed by Tommy Emmanuel – look him up some time. Recently however, I decided I really wanted a Baby Taylor. This guitar is ¾ the size of a normal guitar. It looks like a child’s guitar but it has such an amazing sound for such a little thing. I needed this because my other acoustic was too expensive to take on vacations, or camping trips, etc. I never felt comfortable with that so I wanted something I could back-pack with and not feel so insecure with it being outdoors. It is a great go-to guitar when I have ideas for songs.
I still didn’t think we could afford this guitar but my wife and her mother decided they wanted to buy it for me for Christmas. It has been as awesome as I hoped it would be. The beautiful thing and why I am writing this blog is because this guitar is very symbolic. Gladys put a lot of thought into this guitar for me and here is why she bought it. She wrote all that it symbolizes concerning the loss of Isabella and I wanted to relay that to you. Gladys and I are from two different worlds, one American and one tropical. My Baby Taylor is colored in what Taylor calls Tropical/American tone. Together, my wife and I have made Tropical/American babies. Our children have dark eyes just like my Baby Taylor. This Taylor was New, never used before. All of my other guitars were used and frankly they always have been. This is my first new guitar. It symbolizes the newness of Isabella Grace. It may not be the same but Gladys wanted me to have something new to hold and embrace and spend hours playing with. Through this guitar I have found some element of healing over the loss of my baby girl.
Gladys wrote me a letter when I received my guitar and this is what she said. “May God use your new Baby Taylor for a new creation, for new music that speaks about His grace to you and I. May your heart find a new joy and much healing as you embrace the new Baby Taylor.” If all of this weren’t special enough Gladys had Isabella Grace inscribed on the back of the guitar along with a life size image of Isabella’s footprint. A local artist put it on the guitar. Now when I hold my Baby Taylor, in a way I am holding my baby Isabella. Thank you Gladys and her Mom, Helena for the beautiful gift and the beautiful symbolism it carries. I will cherish this guitar always. I have attached a picture of the guitar to this blog on the right. I wonder if Isabella ever gets to hear her guitar in heaven, not sure but I play it for her often and I look forward to the day when I will play guitar to her in heaven. Daddy loves you Isabella, look forward to the day when we see each other again face to face.
