I am not quite sure how old I was when the quest for finding my talent began. I think it really started, in my mind, one night when we were all watching the Miss America pageant on TV.
Each girl would come out and do something to showcase her talent. It was easy for my younger sister. She sang about everything. Singing came natural to her. When I tried to sing the dogs would howl and people around me would scrunch up their faces and put their hands over their ears. I never tried for a note I could not crack. It seemed I was destined not to sing. My parents did not give up.
I had watched one girl play the fiddle. I wanted to do that. A short time later I was enrolled in a music course with a music teacher and a rented violin. I was learning all about how to hold the instrument and how to stroke the stings with the bow. I was making progress until a little boy also enrolled in the class. He seemed to think it was his duty to pull my pony tail and constantly try to annoy me during our lesson. I had warned him several times to stop his unwanted behavior but he did not listen. My violin lessons came to an abrupt stop when I smashed the instrument over the little boy's head.
Next, my father brought home a base fiddle which I proceeded to step into while trying to get it to balance. Oh, yes I did also take piano. I could not pick up the instrument and smash anyone with it or step into it to hurt it. I learned several songs. Our recital was interesting. We had two sets of songs to play. One set for an early show and then another set for a later show. I got the two mixed up so I was playing one set while everyone else was playing the second. You can well imagine how that went... Everyone stopped and I finished the show, did my bow, and left. I was the only one delighted that I had not missed a single note. I think my timing may have been off though. Both performances finished about ten minutes earlier than they were supposed to so the acts following us were not quite ready. My parents were asked to not renew my lessons.
The next step... dance. It was decided that maybe my talents might be more along the line of dance. I took ballet. I loved it. I got one of my childhood nick names during this period. I fell beautifully. I could leap into the air but always landed a little off center. I could twirl but stopped when my face hit the floor. My grandmother used to say I was the most graceful dead swan on the stage. I could not keep time so I was always either ahead or behind the music. Then we got into tap. That was a blast. I loved tap dancing. I could click along with the best of them. I got so excited about tap dancing I put taps on my hands and would go into hand stands and click across the floor on my hands. Not exactly called for in any routine.
Finally, we got into gymnastics. Gymnastics was my saving grace so to speak. I loved it. I could twirl, do splits, tumble and toss my body anywhere I wanted it to go. I could do it on uneven parallel and balance beams. I could do cartwheels, hand stands, and back bends that left everyone saying, Wow. I had found my talent. I sure was glad. We were running out of things to try. I had begun to think I did not have a talent.
Grandmother would always say I had hidden talents. You don't know many times I would just sit and try to figure out where I had hidden them. I had learned to draw but never considered that a talent. It was just something anyone could learn to do. I learned to paint but again something anyone could do. I did mine on my bedroom walls. I would draw murals on one wall of the bedroom I shared with my sister. It would be of some place I had seen in a magazine. It would always have animals in it and some nature trail of some sort.
I had thought once when I was thinking about trying to find a job. What would I put down as a talent? The idea of putting down that I could meow like a cat, bark like a dog, or chatter like a squirrel did not seem to fit any job description. Knowing how to destroy musical instruments also did not seem like a good thing. Good at tumbling and gymnastics... only if I was going to join the circus. Which for a while, I thought, at least an option.
I had no talents growing up. I never developed one. I even took choir later in high school and was told I would get an A for the course if I would not show up. My grandmother use to tell me I had an ability to make people laugh. Again, that was something she taught me to do.
When I retired my gymnastic talents also retired. I still love good music to listen to. Music played a bit part of my life. Two of my husbands were very talented musicians. I appreciated the beauty of a perfectly cut gem stone because my father had taught me. I learned to help others see their own talents and develop them.
Maybe working with children with disabilities was the right thing for me because I could see in them the talents no one else could see. The hidden talents.
We all have them. They come with compassion for our fellow man. The best part of hidden talents is you can take them with you when you retire. You can develop an insight to something funny one day and something useful the next. Helping others see themselves as productive and viable; takes a talent. It is not a talent you can see. Teaching is also a talent you cannot see but must be observed.
Relish every moment that shows you someone's hidden talents. Then make sure to tell them what you saw. Acknowledgment is the food hidden talents need to grow.
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