The Trivial Pursuit of Giftedness
What must go through teacher's heads as they open the doors of opportunity to young minds. Aspiring artists, musicians, vocalist and athletes.
Piano was painful. My teacher was very staunch. She in no way made lessons fun. I was bored to frustration and hated to do things over and over and over. Thus, to the chagrin of my grandmother and probably my mother, I did not become a pianist.
During a short stint in the private school conundrum, I partook of a little singing trio where we competed for some scholastic-y thing. We sang like angels the three of us. Practice, practice, practice...I'm not good at practice. The more I do something, the more my mind wanders to something else. Eventually, I replaced some word in Just A Closer Walk With Thee and just could not seem to stop doing it. I guess it made more sense to me than the written word of the ancient author! Don't you know, on competition day...yep, I snafued.
In effort to avoid P.E. I signed up for track! Yessiree! It took me 11 minutes to walk a mile, I busted my knees on my first attempt at the hurdles and never tried that again, but by-golly I signed up for track. Being a Manager must not have been an option. At any rate, I was on the track team. Stinky sweats and after school practice was the new norm for me. The running around gave me a great adrenaline rush. I loved the stretching and It felt pretty good to have the cold air burn my throat, but running wasn't really my thing. The coaches were very patient as they steered me toward different events to try. Triple jump, nope. High jump. Forget it. Relay....seriously? So, the mile it was. I never quit, but other events would start while I was finishing up my last lap.
Best friends want to do what the other does, usually. My best friend was really great at drawing. She drew animals and people well enough that you could tell what they were. I tried my hand at the pencil and found it a little...arduous, but I really did enjoy it. Once I drew a nice little pencil sketch of someone dear to me. It was a relaxed rendering of them leaning on a rail fence, from behind... I paid particular attention to detail making sure the stitches on the jean pockets were accurate and the wood grain on the posts were believable. I was pretty proud of it when it was complete and excitedly gifted it to the subject. Needless to say, they were not impressed with my rendition of their backside. Which still perplexes me when, years later, a caricature of the same backside was framed and hung on the wall...
Thankfully, I've been able to figure out a couple things that actually come easy and I seem to do fairly well. The fact that I actually enjoy doing them is a huge plus.
Trial and error is not always fun, but thankfully, through perseverance and much grace, finding things to occupy mind and body can happen. Using gifts and talents to bless others always blesses me. What a joy to experience someone's joy as they receive something you've spent time on and had given so much heart into. Sometimes it's as easy as stopping by to say "hello", other times it's a hand made object that shows you've been thinking of them. For me, the biggest blessing I can get from someone is knowing that they've prayed for me. The thought and time they've taken to offer up a request of care or concern on my behalf, means more to me than any tangible gift I could ever receive. Minus the little drawings and crafts that the grandkids give me of course.
