The weather today was awful. Cold, hard rain, and snow turning to slush and flooding. But I had a very good day. Jill had school cancelled so she stayed home and made a nice lunch and we had time to just hang out. I helped out at the Young Life office for an hour and felt like I helped a bit.
This afternoon was the Pioneer Girls’ Valentine Mother-Daughter… event. What girl can resist two whole tables piled with brownies, cookies, a chocolate fountain, candy, and muffins? And I was the ONLY man there. There were about 40 women in the same room… and me. So it was a bit weird, but fun at the same time. I definitely felt very manly. I was there to play guitar. They also read my bio out loud as they introduced me, which said:
Ben Holt is either a musical geek or a geeky musician. He teaches private guitar/bass lessons, designs websites, writes code for fun, and generally spends too much time on computers. He has a degree in music education. He teaches at his home in Boxborough and at a school in Marlborough. He has a good sense of humor and will laugh at just about anything, including himself. While popular with ladies of all ages due to his handsome appearance and suave demeanor, Ben is a one-woman kind of guy. He lives with his beautiful wife Jill (and two cats) in Boxborough. Jill works at a special education school in Chelmsford. She likes to craft and do wifely things that Ben can’t really understand.
I played before the event, just some stuff I made up on the spot. Then I played for the little girls as they sang “Shine Jesus Shine”. They sang great. Then Jill and I played a Third Day song, “I’ve Always Loved You”. It went great, and I required no amplification even though I brought it.
My sister-in-law Julie ran the event, and she gave a good little talk and paid me for playing. Everyone was very encouraging and said I played well and it sounded great. Jill said it sounded great too. One person said they liked my version better than Third Day’s, which was high praise!
Immediately after this Jill and I went to volleyball. There are normally two games that go on, the “recreational” one, and then another game with a bunch of more “serious” Chinese players. The Chinese are very good and I’ve always wanted a chance to play with them. Tonight I got to. We had too many people and they didn’t have enough. I don’t speak Chinese but they spoke a little English and so they could tell me where to stand.
Well, I did great. I had so much fun and felt like I actually contributed. The Chinese were friendly (especially this guy Lee who hi-fived everyone after every play). I was on the ground half the time and got comments like, “You saved the game”, “You’re so fast!”, “You are very swift”, “Nice play”, “We want him on our team”, and so on. They were constantly joking and laughing and we really had a lot of fun playing. I also have a ton of fun playing with the people Jill and I normally do, but this felt like a bit more my skill level – many people were better than me as well, especially at spiking, serving, and setting.
It was a good day because everything I did met with success!
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