Mopick - Posted - 10/01/2014:  05:43:56

October first. I'm a little melancholy this morning. This is the date six years ago my friend and banjo teacher, Dave Maynard passed away from liver disease. Dave was my teacher when I lived in Tampa in 1994. He was a good friend and good teacher. He was a luthier and he made violin bows.

I was just getting started on banjo. I had been using a borrowed Alavarez banjo that Randy Banks father had loaned me, but when I moved to Tampa in 1993, Mr. Banks wanted his banjo closer to home. I bought my Gibson banjo and started taking lessons from Dave. 

I also got diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Those next few years were a whirlwind of biopsies, treatments, injections, poking, prodding. I was trying to learn banjo and work and deal with the Hep C. I moved back to Central Florida in 95 and still dealing with Hep C and working, the banjo got put on the back burner. I hated leaving Dave and I told him I would drive back and forth and continue lessons, but that never happened. I lost contact with him until I learned of his passing six years ago.

That's when I decided to get the banjo back out and dust it off. I wish I had not wasted over a decade, I didn't realize how involved study of the banjo really is. Now I'm seriously studying Earl Scruggs style banjo. I'm six years into it and racing against time. Aren't we all?  I found my current banjo teacher, Fidlin' Al after I joined Banjo Hangout.  I've been studying with Al for nearly six years, but I don't have lessons every week, it's hit or miss. But one thing I've come to realize, Al and I were talking just last Monday about it and Al said, "It's a process."  It happens over time.  

TR Dockery - Posted - 10/01/2014:  05:51:43

It's good that you remember your friend with passing of time; speaks well of your character.  Sometimes it's okay to be melancholy.

Happier trails,

Randy

Mopick - Posted - 10/01/2014:  05:57:46

Yeah, it's hitting me a little harder this time.  My best friend of over 45 years passed away last Spring just before he turned 54.  My stepdad passed last Spring also.  I'm 55, turning 56.  Time.  Don't waste it.  

RioStat - Posted - 10/01/2014:  06:12:50

Never knew Dave, but I grew up in St. Albans, WV and had Maynards for neighbors, probably his cousins, etc..

I lost my Mom 1 yr ago Sept. 30, 2013, and lost my Dad on Jan. 11, 2014...

I'm 56 yrs old, and getting older is not as much fun as what I thought it would be. I'm getting financially independent, close to retiring, but losing family members make you realize the true priorities in life......

CoolBlue80 - Posted - 10/01/2014:  06:58:46

I can emphasize with you here, I have seen a number of friends pass on the last few years, I am currently 54, and fighting a pseudocyst of the pancreas caused by acute pancreatitis, with a drain poking out of my side, could be weeks or months before it is all over they informed me just yesterday. I was in the hospital for 4 weeks the second time around with a lot of muscle atrophy, but I had my wife bring the banjo to my room, I stuffed it full of towels and got as much practice in as I could, home now and it still is hard to get the practice I used to get in. I have good days and bad days.