Throughout my thirteen years, I’ve learned that you can’t gain anything without going through something tough. When I was younger, it was scraping my knee and getting a glow-in-the-dark Spongebob band-aid. Now, it’s going through 5 years of braces and retainers for perfect teeth. But no matter how you put it, you have to go through a hardship, big or small, to get something you want.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted a book; yes, I know hard to believe. Not just any book, but The Complete Scores of the Beatles. This “must have” has every song the Beatles ever wrote or recorded for a guitar part, a bass part, a drum part and others, depending on the song!! I was never a huge Beatles fan until I saw Across the Universe. It was a fantastic film. This movie is a musical and every song in the movie is a Beatles song. Not with the Beatles singing them though, the characters of the movie sang the songs. My favorite scene was when Max was fighting in Vietnam. Everyone around him was dying. At the same time, Jude was throwing strawberries because he was frustrated. The special effects were so cool. As Jude’s strawberries splattered against the wall, the red juice would appear as blood flying around Max. To complete the scene, the background music was Hey Jude, one of my favorites. During this movie, I realized how many amazing songs the Beatles wrote and I knew I had to try them on my guitar.

So I found myself on Google searching for “guitar book: Beatles.” After a few minutes I came across The Complete Scores of the Beatles. I read the description and the reviews and I knew it was perfect. The one problem was the price: $79.99. It sounds expensive, but this hardcover, special edition Beatles “dictionary” is priceless. I had just spent all my money on a digital camera so I was broke. I searched around on several websites and found the best price I could, about $50, on Amazon.com.

I knew I had to work to get what I wanted so I did all my chores. Washing the dishes by scrubbing the disgusting food particles off everyone’s plates; taking care of the dog, like feeding him his rotten fish scented food nuggets and cleaning out his water, which is probably infested with drool, chewed up food and hair; and helping my mom with work were just a few of the many jobs I had to do. For each week I got $8. One day I was fortunate enough to get a check for $20 from my aunt for Halloween. That, plus $32 from chores gave me just enough money to buy the book. On Thursday, October 25, 2007 I ordered it. The book came a week from then. I was really excited. As soon as I saw the box on the doorstep, I ran out to get it. I ripped open the cardboard to take out the new smelling book. Then I ran to my guitar, flipped on the amp and started strumming away. The first song I flipped to was, I Want You, then Hey Jude, then Let It Be.

When you consider everything in life, you realize that for every good thing you get, you will have to earn it. If it is doing a job, or even experiencing pain, you have to learn that it will happen to you throughout your entire life. You have to learn to deal with your problems and realize that good always comes out of everything.