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Thanks to all for your kind responses.  Just kind of enjoyed doing this and even with the mistakes I made it still seemed okay to share; especially the sentiments behind wishing all of you a Happy Holidays.

What a rush I have had when doing this; but then again, I am still a newbie.  Sounds like a great time, especially for someone with your talent Wayne.  I am sure if you gave them a performance like you have shared with us chordians from time to time, then you were great.  Nice your misses was there to share it with you.  That sounds nice.  Your story about your young playing accomplice reminds me of a saying I heard once that said: Youth is wasted on the young!  Oh, to still be able to do some of the things I did when younger, especially knowing what I have learned as I have got older.

I was a public servant working for a local city government.  I retired after 30 years of doing human resources stuff such as hiring, firing, training and job safety.  I think I liked the training part of it the best, especially the part where I "tried" to train managers how they should do their job.  Unfortunately, many of them never "got it".  I also enjoyed administrative hearings for employees who misbehaved.  This was like being an in-house prosecutor in some cases and a "public" defender at other times.  An in-house private detective/lawyer/trainer if you will!  I probably would have been very good in a courtroom setting if I had actually went to law school.  I have always made hell-of-a-good arguments!  In my spare time (lol) over the years, I also owned and managed a couple of family owned local taverns.

Priceless, I want to be at one of these!  I can see you had fun!  Let's find a way to do this together somehow.

It's never nice to have to have surgery, but removing your gallbladder is about as routine as it gets these days.  Had mine removed a dozen years ago with nothing I can think of as side affects after the surgery.  You will be fine.  Recovery for awhile is a good reason to write some new music and play a little bit until you are well again.

I am one who believes that life is constantly throwing challenges at us.  The "rule of three" is probably just a constant in our ups and downs and some seem bigger than others and can therefore be labeled as one of three.  I prefer to take stock in the abilities we have to move on, make choices and overcome those harsh things we encounter in our daily lives.  If we dwell too long on anything, something else steps up; so let us all attack the good of our life with a gusto and be thankful for all the joys we have while we navigate the potholes of the road we travel.  Some things which initially look bad can be turned around and made to be a positive; but we have to be open-minded enough to look for the good and not allow ourselves to get stuck in the bad. 

Look at all the positives you have in life; those still around you and with you who support your path forward.  Change is hard, but there really is good that can come of it.  There are other churches who are willing to accept you and friends remaining to share the void left by losing one of them.  Go meet someone new!  I think a stranger is just somebody I have yet to meet.  Who of us knows when the next person we meet might turn into a lifelong companion if we will only take that step.  I am a firm believer in "Finding a Path or Making One."    Accentuating the positive gets me out of bed each morning even when life is dumping on me in some way.  Go for it!

My grandfather was a musician who basically drank his way around bars playing music at nights and working on peoples cars during the day until he had a stroke which left him paralized on his left side and ended his music playing days at a very young age.  My first music memories are of him and his son (my uncle) playing songs on the guitar.  My other grandfather owned a local tavern with a juke box full of country music and the guy who changed out the records each week (45's) would pass them on to me.  At an early age I took pride in knowing all the songs currently being played on the juke box.  Knowing I had this "legacy" of music in my family always made me want to play, but I was always involved in sports and any interest was downplayed by my mom as she had a pretty bad attitude about what music had done to her family (divorce) and her dad.  When I got married, my wife bought me a cheap guitar for Christmas the first year, but it just sat as it was too hard to chord a song with soft fingers and wharped neck making the strings far from the neck.  A few years later my brother who had some of the same desires for music as me bought a Fender accoustic, but didn't like the sound of it, so he gave it to me and went out and bought an accoustic Epiphone.  Neither of us did much other than learn a few chords back then.  Jump to last year; I had retired and was looking for another hobby.  I busted out the old Fender and started learning chords to country songs I liked.  Getting around others who played made me think my old Fender wasn't up to par, so I jumped in and bought a solid wood Blueridge recommended by my loca music store owner.  With a fine guitar in hand, I have basically kept up a vigil of playing it everyday now for almost ten months, getting up the courage to even go out in public to a local open mic and play, then progressed to writing some songs and remain "hooked".   I only regret that the joy of all this was something I would have taken the time to do earlier in life.  I am having a ball with it, just doing what I do.   I am having alot of fun!

Hey Pete, if you are interesting in getting the most sound for your dollar, don't overlook the various all solid wood Blueridge guitar line.  I constantly get positive comments from my buddies who have swore by their Martin guitars about how great my Blueridge 160A model sounds, at at least half the price of their Martins.  I play mostly old time or country music and purchased mine after my local music store owner turned me on to them.  He had me close my eyes and placed a guitar in my hands and told me to play it with my eyes closed.  He then took it and handed me another.  After playing and hearing both, he had me open my eyes and say which I liked best.  Guess what, it was the Blueridge over his Martin HD-28.  He has since sold his Martins and purchased Blueridge and he sells Martins in his shop.  This from a guy who played professionally in a band at one time with the likes of Vince Gill and others. 
I am not trying to discount the great Martin guitar line, just saying that for alot less money their are others out there that sound and play every bit as good.  I wouldn't necessarily get locked onto a "name", instead giving more consideration as to how it plays and how it sounds.  Try the blindfold test and see just what you want to spend your hard earned dollars on.  I decided the $900 was better in my pocket and bought the Blueridge for about half.

I will add celebration of your birthday today to that of my misses.  It's just that we appear to be a little older than you, so enjoy your youth while you still have it.  Happy Birthday to you and to my girl!

We can all say we knew her back when she was just her kids mom and a fellow Chordian! LOL  You're damn near famous!

Imagine my suprise when I went to the mail box today and found a package to me from Ian across the pond in Stockton-on-Tees in England.  I have only now just opened it and am like a little kid opening a Christmas present.  I know I will enjoy this little look from around the world; a glimpse at what others have contributed and the thoughts of what I might add.  For now, I think I will just try out a few of the picks and then settle down to read a little of what is inside. 

The absolute most cool thing about this is just taking the time to see where all this has been and what people have commented and added.  I will give an update as soon as I get around to getting a look/see at everything in here.   Thanks for all before me for keeping this alive to find me in my little corner of the world in Ashville, Ohio, USA.  Thanks Ian (bolleauxp) for sending it on and Jeff (Topdown) for getting all of this started.  Whoever might be interested next should give us a post here and let me know where I can foward on this package of treasures to the next Chordian.