Growing Close

He handed me a white envelope and said, "This is from your Dad. Open it."

I was just setting up the PA for my Dad's memorial. His former bandmate, Larry Feldman, had arrived a few minutes early to give me this gift.

Larry and my Dad performed together in a duo known as "Feldman Hanger" in Tampa in the 70s and 80s. They both were skilled in fingerstyle guitar and could sing incredible harmonies together. 

One of the songs they performed was one of my Dad's originals he had written before they were together. I always felt like it was one of the most beautiful songs I'd ever heard. It's called Growing Close. You can listen to it here. 

In fact, it was that song that was the main reason why I started to learn to play guitar a few years ago. I had told him that I wanted to learn because, "Who's going to play 'Growing Close' after you're gone?"

After I learned a bit on guitar, I'd come over sometimes on Sunday's for what I'd call "band practice." We'd play a few songs together and he'd show me a few tricks or teach me a new song. 

After I had gained a little bit of confidence I said, "Ok, why don't you teach me 'Growing Close'?"

He started playing it and I realized that it was not going to be as easy as the other songs I was learning.

He passed away before I had the skills to play Growing Close with him. But I’ve kept learning and playing. 

Fast forward to earlier this year, I'm a year and a half into guitar lessons and I thought maybe now's the time to begin learning this song. Except in all his song books, I couldn't find a copy of the words and chords anywhere. 

Luckily, my guitar teacher is one of those who can listen to a song a figure out the chords. So a few weeks ago we started learning the song. Though I've progressed in my ability to play some of the more complicated chords, it was still going to take me a bit to learn it all. I still kept wishing that I had a copy of the chords somewhere. Learning them from my guitar teacher was great, but what I really wanted was to learn them from my Dad.

When I opened the envelope I exclaimed in joy. Inside was a yellowed sheet of notebook paper and in my Dad's handwriting were the words and chords to Growing Close, just like I had hoped to find. Larry had brought it from his personal collection. 

"...and there's more. I have all of our songs. You'll have to come over sometime." 

I was so thrilled to finally get the things that I was looking for this whole time.