We met John a few years back when he was looking for someone to teach him guitar. During that time he was going through it really rough. I remember sitting down with John for the first time and him telling me that his goal was to learn how to play a song, that’s it, just be able to chord around. It immediately struck me that he was looking for a way to let it all out. For the next few weeks we got together – and every time I met John for his lesson he would tell me how hard it’s been for him and how he enjoyed sitting down in his basement and learning music. Our lessons turned into more of a “bullshittin’ session” than music lesson, really. Every day he told me how hard it was, but every day – John would be the first one to crack a joke and since then that’s all the two of us do. My impression of John is that he’s the type of man, that when it gets hard and things get tough, he digs in.

In most cases, Facebook is a silly mechanism – not good for much, but in the last year and a half I kept seeing these posts of John smiling and being goggly-eyed over this pretty blonde-girl. I started seeing photos of them with a couple of beers, then photos on the lake, wearing goofy hats, a couple of photos of wine and a title saying “perfect night”, photos of her with the John’s sons, then I saw a photo on October 23rd, 2013 of a ring on that pretty blonde-girls finger. In next few photos John had lost a few pounds and looked in pretty good shape, stood taller, smiled more – the best I’ve ever seen him.

View the rest of their photos HERE

P.S. John’s family throws an auction/barbecue/raffle/gathering each year to support those effected by Multiple Sclerosis (all benefits go to The National MS Society). If you’d like to donate and help their family and cause, please contact me and I’ll forward you to John and Jenna.