20-Time Comes to an End

Well, 20-Time has come to an end. To be honest, I'm having trouble deciding whether I'm happy or sad about this. Let me take some time to explain why.

I'll start with the positives. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am that I was able to be a part of this project. Before, I would see Papaw at church putting his heart and soul into whatever song he was playing. He would close his eyes, and just feel the music. Anyone who was watching him could tell how much joy he got from playing just one instrument. I wanted that so much. Because of this project, I have been able to experience it. Learning guitar has always been a dream of mine and this project allowed me to pursue that dream. I never seemed to find time to play before and I wasn't ever motivated enough (it was a difficult time). Now I felt like I had to play, even when I  didn't want to. Even though I didn't reach my original goal 100%, I still felt like I achieved something great. I now know that I am ten times closer to being a pro than I was when this project first started.

This project has also made me a happier person. Every time I play I just get so much joy. I know it sounds strange when I'm just playing a weird object with strings, but it's true. I love it.

 Not only has it affected me, but I also feel like it has affected my parents. About 2 years ago is when my dad bought me my GORGEOUS guitar. I could tell that he couldn't wait until I got started.When he found out I was doing this as my project, he got so excited! He told me that he knew that this would make me happy and that I would be great one day. It was so great knowing that he believed in me and knows that I can do it. Now, my dad wasn't the only one that was affected. There has been multiple times when my mom has put a huge smile on her face and clapped when she heard me play (she's so cute). She says something like, "That sounded so good Lauren! I'm so proud of you! Ahhh, I'm so happy for you!" Seeing her so happy, makes me happy. Sometimes I think, wow, that's so strange how people could could so excited over their daughter doing something they love (I know I did). Well, I guess we won't fully understand it until we are parents.

Now you're probably wondering why I'm debating over whether I'm happy or not that the project is over when all I've said are good things. Well, here comes the negative.

Okay, there was many aspects of this project that irritated me, I'm not going to go into detail about what specifically they were, so I'll just do an overview.  I felt like there were some parts of the project that shouldn't have been graded when they were. Also, I just wanted to play guitar without worrying about whether or not I was good enough to present to the class at the end of the year. Also, I hated SSR time when I read Guitar For Dummies. I'm not going to lie, I got really bored. I tried really hard to pay full attention to my book, but it didn't work most of the time. It would've been much easier if Guitar for Dummies wasn't so boring. And... that's basically it for the negative portion.

After writing this and thinking it through, I decided that I'm in the middle between happy and sad (probably more towards sad).  I think that's reasonable! Alright, I'm not done yet!

Even though the project is over, I am DEFINITELY going to continue learning. As I mentioned earlier, it makes me happy. I can not guarantee that I will continue posting, but I will try my best! Thank you to the few people who followed my blog and stuck with me through my journey, it means a lot! Here's a photo to end my post:

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for reading!

Lauren