I Can't Feel My Fingers

Friday night we parked the kids at Grama's and went on a double date with some of our favorite people from our "new" church. One of these days I'll have to stop calling it our "new" church because we're pretty much a fixture there now every time the doors are open and we don't feel like newcomers any more.

Anyway, we had a great evening full of Japanese food, friendship, and Rock Band. Dan and I were Rock Band virgins, so we relied on the Echols to school us because they are wise in the ways of Rock Band. They are seriously good. At first I refused to play any instrument (other than my voice) because I didn't want to be responsible for making the band get booed off the stage. I tried drums and, while I showed a little improvement after a few songs, I still pretty much sucked at it. Then I tried guitar and made it through a few songs on the easy level without making the entire band fail. Then I tried bass guitar and something kind of shifted inside me. It was fun. Really fun.

Granted, I still sucked at it, but it I sucked slightly less at bass guitar than I did at the other instruments. At one point, I was playing along with our foursome while belting out Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" and I looked over at Dan. He was grinning at me with a look that I've grown to recognize over the years--a look that means trouble. He was digging watching me play the bass. I could tell. I casually, jokingly mentioned that I might want a bass guitar. And Loren and Aaron were witnesses so I couldn't take it back.

The very next day Dan went down to Sam Ash and bought me my very own bass. He was getting some other stuff for himself too, but he brought that guitar home just for me. He's been wanting me to learn to play bass for years. Apparently all it took was just a tiny glimmer of an interest on my part to justify the expense.

Last night I sat down with my shiny new bass while Dan was practicing his electric guitar for the praise band in today's service. He showed me how to play a few notes and I was off. I managed to play along with every song he played. I didn't play well or with any great style, but I managed to find all the notes reasonably close to the right tempo. And it. was. fun.

Of course, today I'm struggling to type this because I can't feel the fingers on my left hand, but it was worth it.

New bass guitar...$80
Lessons...free
Impressing my husband with my mad bass-playin' skeelz...priceless.