Day 24: Have Maya teach you...

Challenge Day 24: Have Maya teach you a song on the guitar or ukelele.

A challenge dependent on the timetable, moods and whims of a 13 year-old is a challenge in itself. Once I could get Maya to agree to sit down with me, or even speak with me, this was a fun challenge. Anyone who has or has had a teen daughter knows what I'm talking about. Between her busy schedule: home from school at 4pm, dinner at 5pm, soccer practice at 6pm, friend over at 8pm, and her attitude, "School sucks!" "This dinner is gross." "Don't touch me" "Don't talk to me". I had about a 15 minute window after soccer practice before movie-watching.

For all her earlier refusal, after we got back home, Maya was the one who went down to her bedroom and walked upstairs holding her guitar and some sheet music for our "lesson". She decided to teach me the Bruno Mars song, Marry You. So she played the song once through and I really paid attention. I mean we pay attention to her music playing and singing, but more from a performance or entertainment standpoint. This time I was watching, staring at her fingers knowing I'd be expected to do likewise. I realized quite quickly that's it's very complicated and not easy at all. She hands me the guitar and tries to guide my fingers on the neck of the guitar onto the strings. Index finger up on 4th string, middle finger on 1st string, ring finger on 2nd string, just the tips of my fingers and press down hard. It felt so awkward. Now strum and she tells me the complicated strumming pattern. I strum the very first strum and she detects the off-note sound of me holding the strings incorrectly. She tries to manipulate my fingers properly. It was like playing Twister with my fingers. I couldn't even get the first note right. I think I'm a bit hopeless as a guitar player. After several attempts and my determination to butcher the poor song, we decide the lesson is over.

Though the lesson, thus the challenge, didn't last long, it was no less meaningful. Most of these challenges are not about the doing of the challenge. It's about overcoming the resistance, the emotions felt, insights discovered, and/or the opportunities created. Today's challenge was not about learning a song on the guitar. It was about having a rare, precious moment with my daughter. I am so grateful for that.