T is for Talent

Talent.

I have talent a mile wide and an inch deep.  As a kid I wanted to try my hand at everything.  I didn't actually try everything,  but I did try many things... and I was pretty good at several of them.

But I never stayed at one talent long enough to become an expert.  I always wanted to move on to learn something else.  To become a sort of Jill-of- all-talents.

I danced.  I took tap and ballet classes.  When I became older I added some jazz classes and I also did some ballet on pointe.  I took acrobatics and helped with the young classes.

Then I moved on.

I went the musical way.  I began instrumental music classes.  I chose the trumpet because my grandfather and mother before me had played the trumpet.  My grandfather played gigs in nightclubs as a young man and my mother told me stories of when she played in her high school marching band. I wanted to continue the legacy, so I learned to play the trumpet. I learned on my grandfathers trumpet that had been passed down to my mother and now to me.

Within a few years I decided to learn guitar and I took lessons at a community class given at our library.   Years later when I had children, I bought a piano and made sure they took lessons-- and I learned with them.  

Artistically, I tried my hand at pottery, stained glass, painting, and drawing.  I learned to crochet and to knit.  I did needlework to hang on my walls.  

Athletically, I played volleyball and I swam.  


In college I was known among friends as the queen of theory- I had a good grasp of the several theorists we had to know and their respective theories.  I also had a knack with APA.   When a friend needed help strengthening a paper with theory or had questions about how to cite something they would come to me for advice.  Could that be my talent??  

I never focused on one thing and did it so well to be known for that talent.  Instead I dabbled along and had a well-rounded life doing a little bit of everything and learning an appreciation for everything.

So I have no real talent...just experiences.  But oh, what a wonderful life.

What is your talent?