Spider Fingers

I invited Pinky and Ring  to do spider finger exercises on my guitar.

It’s time I learn to stretch and strengthen.

For too long I’ve been afraid to really learn to play

And practice in a more technical way.

I usually just get all dreamy and make up funky chords.

I’m stretching beyond my comfort zone because the same old strains are getting old.

This is how one grows younger: as we get comfortable, things inevitably change. We learn to expect the unexpected with curiosity and a sense of wonder.

Then growing with no fear of growing old allows our life to stretch out before us.

I remember a day in 1976 when I went with my housemates to Sandia Peak outside of Albuquerque.

I had an apple that tasted like cotton candy and I had sipped water from a natural spring that was almost as sweet.

I was leaning against a giant boulder, letting the sun bathe me. Someone snapped a photo.

It was such a powerful shot that it crystallized the age:

 Suddenly and forever sixteen would mean sun, water and sweet apple.

Now it seems that sixty is the new sixteen and my life is a beam of possibility that stretches as far as my eyes can see.