Six Friends

The Daily Haiku for Feb 16. Six Friends.

Together, playing,
Six friends, their lives less empty,
learning to grow up.

Some days ago, I described how my aunt gave me a gift one day that changed my life: a guitar. I spent a lot of time every day learning to play the instrument and practicing, until I felt ready to play in a band.

Initially, I played rhythmic guitar at my aunt's hard-rock band, Araña (Spider). Then, I started my own band, playing drums.

Those initial years were amazing. I made a lot of friends, learned a lot, and unleashed my creativity. That pic above shows that initial band. I don't even remember the name now (I think it may have been Delorean, inspired by "Back to the future").

I was eighteen, and you can see me "photobombing" our guitar player, Alberto, in the middle. My sister was the bass player, and can be seen in the pic at the right.

I remember that one day, my aunt's boyfriend came to see us, and after the rehearsal, said: "That was good, but you are playing the drums in reverse, you hit the bass drum when you should hit the snare drum and viceversa". I felt really embarrassed, because I had learned to play on my own, and I had been so happy with how I was doing. But then, I simply shrugged and asked him to show me how to do it right.

Letting go, admitting you are wrong, and learning to do it better is something we do naturally when we are young and forget (or stop doing because of our egos) when we grow up.

We are constantly learning, so wouldn't it be great if we could keep on looking at the world like we did back then? Those beginnings are the most difficult, but also the most beautiful and exciting. Much like a startup, it's the most enjoyable part of the journey, if only because you are exploring the unknown.