When it comes to Black Friday, I am firmly planted in the No Thank You camp. I much prefer my sleep and pajamas to doorbusters and deals. Mike and I are in agreement on this, and he even commented he’d pay twice as much for something if it meant he could avoid the whole scenario. Elena, on the other hand, loves the idea of it. She has dreams of jostling her way through Target and Best Buy, giddily spending our money. Sadly, she was born into the wrong family.
This year, yet again, she asked if we would take her shopping on Black Friday. Only this time around, she had her heart set on one thing: a one-day only deal at Guitar Center for a $25 ukulele. And so it was for a tiny stringed instrument that we broke our ban on Black Friday. I mean, how can you say no when your kid wants a musical instrument that costs less than a pizza and beer?
She set her alarm, lest there be a run on ukuleles in Akron, Ohio. Thankfully, Ohio shoppers had other things on their lists, and the ukulele was hers.
Since then she’s been playing it nearly non-stop. More specifically, she’s been trying to master one song (Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”) non-stop. I used to have to tell her to put down the iPod, now it’s “That’s enough ukulele for now, don’t you think?” Before you get all judgey, why don’t you try a 5-hour car ride with the same song on ukulele repeat? Or perhaps a little more ukulele at 9:30 p.m. when little brother is trying to fall asleep across the hall?
Still, other than the few times we’re not, we’re pretty thrilled that Elena is choosing the ukulele over selfies and Taco Bell runs for now (don’t rule out selfies with the ukulele, though). Just when we think we’re about to lose her to boy bands and texting for good, she whips out a ukulele or the Math Bowl permission slip and reminds us that she’s her very own quirky person. She’ll tiptoe through the tulips to the beat of her own tiny guitar, thank you very much.
And that’s worth more to me than 100 ukuleles at full price.
Yo, that’s a DEAL. Good for her and good for you!
I took Anna to Guitar Center for a ukulele lesson once. She was smitten and asked for one but, since she doesn’t even want to practice the string instrument that she already knows how to play (and does for a grade in school), I didn’t cave.
Well, if she ever wants to get some ukulele time in, you know where we live!
I’ve got a Martin (good ukulele) that my grandfather bought for my mom when he worked for the factory back in the 60’s. Bought a cheapie one to play around with but kids, etc. left me without the time to really get decent. I can muster a passable Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and dream of getting down Hey Ya (YouTube it for uke version – it’s good), but that’s about it. Best advice: get a tuner app for your phone. Strum each string and it tells you the note. Much easier than trying to tune by ear.
Outkast for ukulele? THANK YOU KIND SIR!