Aaron is off to college in two days! Sheesh. He had his last guitar lesson with his longtime teacher, Merritt, on Thursday. It was a bittersweet hour and sad but fond farewell.

We got his first guitar at the now-defunct Music Central nearby. It was one of those my first guitar beginner kits and the guitar was predictably terrible. He upgraded to my old electric in short order after his first teacher gave us the thumbs up to do so.

His first teacher, Devon, left teaching at the end of 2018; he moved over to Merritt’s Music Service in Millville when Guitar Central closed, and we followed him there. Merritt took Aaron as a student after Devon’s resignation, and that worked out for everyone. Aaron even played at a big recital back in 2019. The COVID shutdown in 2020 led to lessons over Zoom, which proved helpful even after things started opening up after quarantine–in situations where we couldn’t make a lesson, we could pivot to virtual and not miss.

Merritt eventually moved his operation to his house, and we would roll over to his house and play on the enclosed back porch with Rufus, his dog, and occasionally Mr. Gray, a big ‘ole cat. Once, Merritt handed me a bass or an acoustic (I can’t remember which) and I started playing during the lessons, too. That really made it fun for me and I learned a bit myself after nearly 30 years of noodling.

I was tempted to keep the time slot for myself and take lessons until Aaron was home on breaks and the summer, but I don’t really have that much time to practice in between Thursdays. Or it’s not enough of a priority.