Music becomes a job

Fast forward as the gig continues. Staying up till 5:30 was still challenging but I was somehow getting used to it. Hanging out after the gigs either at Loser's Lounge at The Riverside Resort or at the bar. I didn't really have to get up the next day and do stuff like cook, clean or wash the dishes. Sometimes I'd walk around the resort and a few people would recognize me and say things like "Hey" You're that guitar player in the lounge aren't you?" "Great job on that guitar!" They would say. " Thanks!" I'd say and I would walk away with a smile feeling happy that all the work I did getting better was actually paying off. It was interesting to me that I had gotten this gig with little road experience at all and yet it was all working out. In between sets one night Steve had approached me and asked if I could play a Prince song that had been requested. I told him that it was on my list but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. "That's okay" He said. He took my notepad and wrote out the chords to the song. "Here you go." I looked at the paper with the chords but no form. "OK" I said." I will try it." "By the way" He continued. "Could you play the guitar solo behind your head?" "Our old guitar player used to do that." "I've never done that." I responded in a tone that was really saying that I hope I'm not expected to play stuff I had not worked out ahead of time. " Don't worry" He said. "You'll be fine." As the night went on I anticipated the big moment. I played the Prince song. Then it came. The moment of truth. I took a deep breath and I thought here goes and placed the guitar behind my head and just played. People in the lounge just stopped and gawked. It was like the time/space reality I lived in itself had stopped. Something inside of me just reached and pulled it off. I can't say I know how that happened. It's the intangible force inside of oneself that is there, pulling off things that you didn't know you could do till you do. That force inside that I've read about, talked about and heard about. Something that you can't see but nevertheless is there. It seemed like a long time had passed but it was only a few minutes. The group in the lounge cheered. Some stood up. When it was over. I got a standing ovation. The rest of the band looked at each other and smiled. This job I had never before, in places I'd never been in with people I basically just recently met was actually working out and working out well.