"Tuggin' At My Heartstrings!"

"Oh the stories it could tell...

I thought about bringing it and I thought, long and hard, about leaving it home, but I really wanted to practice enough to play some songs with friends at a Christmas party. It was gonna be a long stay in LA, and I wanted to use the down time to practice and to try to work out the stiffness in my left hand, which seems to be getting worse with each passing year.

Well, I didn't want to buy an extra seat for the instrument and I didn't think it could possibly fit in the overhead compartment on the plane. ( I later found out that would have been the best place for it! ) With a good bit of trepidation, I sent my baby with the rest of my baggage in the baggage compart-ment of the aircraft. I mean what could possibly go wrong. It was insured. Christmas travel is so crazy, I just knew this was the best I could do, short of leaving it home.

I bought the Guild D-55, in California, way back in 1979 just before our son was born. Originally, I wanted to purchase a Gibson Hummingbird, but I really could afford it. The Guild actually sounded as good as, if not better than the Gibson... at least, to my untrained ear.

Well, my flight to LA went fine. I was looking forward to visiting a lot of friends and enjoying the wonderful Christmas weather there. Standing at the turnstile with my carry-ons strapped across my shoulders, I patiently waited, like everyone else, for the bags to start down the conveyor belt and on to the rotating turnstile.

Twenty minutes later, and with each passing minute, my heart sank just a little bit more. I started to chastise myself for being so naive. Christmas was certainly gonna be horrible, no matter how good it will be, if I lose my baby. What was I thinking?

With a resolute and heavy sigh as the conveyor belt came to a halt, I wandered over to the baggage claim department to see if they had any knowledge of my six string companion.

"Miss, I seemed to have lost my guitar." It never came down to the turnstile!" I said.

"Sir, is that guitar over there in the corner, yours?"she said with a "I'm glad to be a service to you" smile!

"Oh man! That's the one! That's mine!"I said as appreciatively as I could.

"You've made my holiday", I said.

"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays," she said with a nod...

"And a Merry Christmas to you, m'am!"

Copyright 2016/ Ben Bensen III