Fun times at a campfire

So we're just back from a family camping trip.  We went to a campground where we'd never been.  It had fairly poor reviews on line, but because of a change to our itinerary we had to take what reservations we could get.  It was a GREAT campground.  Super clean, well maintained, nice amenities.  I'm so glad we went there.  It had rained each evening, and actually fairly often while we were there, but it cleared up our last afternoon.  Now the kids wanted some S'mores (the kids, right?) so I got a campfire going while I cooked dinner.  After dinner, we sat about the campfire and made up stories for each other.  Then I pulled out my guitar and played a bit.  There had been a gal who was dropping by to play with my girls and she fell on by the campfire.  Then she said, "My Daddy plays guitar and my brother plays mandolin and they're really good at it too."  I like the "too".  Anyway, I said, "Well go tell them to come on by!"  She did, and they did.  Her brother, Tate, was blind and was guided to a seat.  Then I strapped my guitar onto him (Tate played both mandolin and guitar as well as keyboards, fiddle and a few other instruments we didn't have).  Tate tore up that guitar!  He was playing Doc Watson.  He was playing Merle.  He was playing Bill Monroe.  Then his Daddy said, "Why don't you give Mr. Derek (me) his guitar back and you two pick some songs together?"  So they helped Tate off with my guitar and gave him his mandolin.  I taught him a couple chord progressions for songs I know and Tate had such a good ear that he was doing mandolin solos on songs he'd never heard before.  Then his Daddy played a few and we had a wonderful evening right up until quiet hours. 

The next day I saw Tate and his sister and brother going to the pool.  I was walking into the camp store behind them and overheard the conversation.  Brother: "Tate, it's a shame you can't see this grass.  It's greened up beautifully with all the rain."  Tate: "My grass is blue."  Brother: "You'd have to see it to appreciate it."  Tate: "Yeah, but you can't hear bluegrass like I can." 

I really, really hope that we bump into that family at another campground down the road.  They were good, kind, hard-working people and both the Daddy and Tate could really pick a tune! 

- Zurf