Living the Dream

At almost thirty years old I have worked for half my life. This is an interesting thing to realize. Whats more, I have only recently ( in the past year ) begun to do work that I truly enjoy, and that actually matters to me. All I can ever remember wanting to do is make music. From an early age I have been fascinated with music and how people make it, use it, and react to it. I have sung since I could speak and have taught myself to play a variety of instruments. In my teens and early twenties, I played music in several groups, and came close to living the dream of playing for a living. I played all kinds of music with all kinds of people. I worked a slew of unimportant, uninteresting jobs for so many years just to support myself enough to have those brief amazing moments on stages of all sizes. During all this I never really gave much thought to my actual happiness. I didn't think about how sustainable my future happiness was. Then one day while working as a handyman it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I was 27 years old. I was not a famous rock star. I had been working for over 10 years with nothing to show, and I hated getting up and going to my cruddy job. It was time for a change.

All it took was one week of web searches, phone calls, and an entry test, to get me registered at a technical college where I could apply my love for music and my aptitude for mechanics. One week to start me on the path to a future in which I could be surrounded by music while making a decent living! I left my home state of Texas and moved 1600 miles to Minnesota, and after a year of filling my head with everything I could have ever imagined and more about band instrument repair, I found myself back in Texas making my living in a music store. I had done it! I was one of the few people out there who could say that I truly enjoyed my work. I was finally able to take pride in my work, knowing that the work I was doing was actually making a difference. Each instrument that I repaired gave a student or professional player the opportunity to play and sound their best, all while making a decent living and enjoying every minute of it.

After honing my skills in a busy shop repairing band instruments, I decided to return to school and expand my knowledge to include the repair and construction of one of my favorite instruments, the guitar. In just over another year I will be able to continue living my musical dreams. I will be able to truly "make" music happen. Building custom musical instruments and continuing to repair instruments of all kinds and calibers. It is a truly amazing feeling to wake up each day and enjoy what you do. If you have a dream follow it. You may be glad you did.