Ted’s Inherent Magic – a very short true story

Ted’s Inherent Magic – a very short true story

Ingrained within each of the many things we have saved, is a story; instantly evident and vividly evoked are the elements of the memory it possesses.

The receipt almost gives the whole account, definitely the main gist of it, for me at least.  The students Ted referred to were at a beautiful private school for unique and unusual children of all ages where I offered music therapy for two years or so.

Della, as she would come to be known to us, was to be my sort-of sacrificial-guitar, considering she would inevitably get scratched and tattered. She seemed perfect for the purpose; an old Sears mail-order Harmony with imitation flames, painted fake binding and a baseball bat neck; a challenge to play but sturdy enough to bear the heavy-handed awkwardness from curious and brave students.

But sometimes love comes unexpectedly from a most unlikely source.  Within minutes after Ted set her up he became totally smitten with her. As I listened it was hard to believe that Ted was able to coax such beauty from that once pitiful little guitar.  Yet, that was an attribute of Ted’s inherent magic. Could anyone else have made that guitar sound so dazzling?  Hence, she was not to be sacrificed, so Ted kept her.  A true Cinderella story. We named her Della.             ~ Barbara~