Mandolin

I'm not going to call it a hidden talent because I have no talent for it and therefore nothing to hide, but I play mandolin.  Kind of.  Well, I own a mandolin, anyway, and I take lessons and have even been known to practice, but I'm terrible at it, which is why it sits on a stand in my writing room, staring at me in a vain attempt to shame me into practicing.

A while back the sound board operator for a show my ex husband was in happened to play mandolin in a band called Chance the Arm (gotta link it:  https://www.facebook.com/chancethearm).  My ex mentioned to him that I, also, play mandolin, so next time I was in the green room the subject came up.  And then he brought his mandolin out and played it for us.  Not just played - he owned its little wooden face.  It was awesome.

And then he handed it to me.

Crap.

I couldn't think of a single song.

Stalling for time, I asked him how long he's been playing.

"A year," he said.

Crap crap crap.  I'd been taking lessons for three years at that point and I still couldn't manage tremolo (still can't, for that matter).

I stared at the instrument for a bit like I'd never seen one before and wordlessly, apologetically, handed it back.

To this day I believe he thinks I was lying about playing mandolin, like that's a thing people make up.  Maybe they do.  I didn't, but I sure looked like I did.  I am The Mandolin Liar!