In lieu of the typical goofy blogs about the funny things Melba and I do, I thought I’d share a nice, warm-fuzzy story with you all. We were volunteering for a Marine Corps non-profit gala/silent auction at a REALLY nice hotel in DC. Rep. Tom Davis was there as was Aaron Tippin. Aaron is a country singer – I hate country music – but his bio says he’s had a lot of hits. Anyways, I mostly went to get pictures of those people because celebrities always make a portfolio look better.

As I was taking pictures of all of the guests, 4 Marines arrived, and they were all in wheelchairs. I didn’t really talk to any of them, but I can only assume, based on their age, that they lost their legs in Iraq within the past couple of years.

One item in the silent auction was a Gibson Les Paul Classic signed by Tim McGraw. The guitar alone is worth around $1500-$2000. There was a guy named Paul standing there who was determined to not be outbid – even as the bidding went well past what the guitar was worth. Was he a guitar collector? No. Does he even play guitar? Never in his life. Why was he bidding on it? One of the marines in a wheelchair (I don’t know which) was staring at the guitar and talking about how much he would love to have something like that. Paul overheard the him and decided that for the sacrifice the Marine gave for his country, the least he (Paul) could do would be to get the guitar for him (the marine).

Paul waited by the guitar until the auction closed and had the guitar delivered to the marine. I took a picture of Paul by the guitar, then Paul told me he wanted to do this anonymously, so I won’t post the picture here.

Anyways, just thought I’d pass along that story.