Talents I wish I had

 If there were talents to be had, there are a couple I would love to have. Unfortunately, I don’t.

Music. One would be the ability to sing. I started off so well… I had a great voice when I was a kid. When we lived in Washington Mom signed me up for singing lessons from some lady in Oak Harbor. We would drive over every week after school and I would stand next to the piano and run scales over and over again, then practice show tunes for 45 minutes or so. 

Had a couple of recitals, for which I talked her into expanding my repertoire to Yesterday, by the Beatles, and Edelwiess, from Sound of Music. Then we moved to Las Vegas, and that ended that. Shortly after that my voice changed, such as it did, and the training was lost. But who wouldn’t like to sing in a band???

So learning a musical instrument would be fun. I played the trumpet pretty well all through Junior High and into  my Freshman year of HS. I must not have signed up for Band after that, and that was the end of that. Probably peer pressure from my friends. I took guitar lessons for a short time in grade school when we lived in grade school (probably 3rd grade?) but again, that’s when we moved… this time to Libya. Never got far enough along to get to the good part where you get hooked on it.

I’d love to be able to do that whistle that kids can hear six blocks away. My Dad had that. When it was dinner time and we hadn’t noticed the street lights were on, he’d walk out on the lawn, hit that whistle and you knew you were gonna get an ear chewing on the way to the table.

Art. Always loved doodling, and my Mom was so naturally talented that I really gravitated to that in our relationship. She painted and got me into acrylics. I have a basic ability to draw, but with some study and guidance, I think I could be pretty good. I love to watercolor (there are a few efforts around), but I’m just good enough to be dangerous… I don’t have the skills of making things seem real… but I’d probably be a great Monet….

Dance. Everyone in our family knows I love to dance. Always have. Its the fluid movement and control the person seems to exude. In every school, there was always one kid who you knew would go on to make that a life’s work by heading to New York or LA. 

Liked to go to the school musical productions and watching them. Being on stage was not my thing, but definitely being able to dance like that would be fun.

Public speaking. Always wished I felt more comfortable with that. I think that came from always being the new kid in the room. Besides being naturally shy, I think that not getting the opportunities due to being…that new kid… you don’t get or make the chances to practice. My brother Dave was in Toastmasters for awhile. I always thought that was very brave and proactive of him.

Writing. I think I write pretty well, at least all signs from the past lead me to believe that. But I’d really love to write well enough to write some sort of novel. 

My problems is not just getting past the blank page, it’s also that little bit of residual ADD. I have never been able to stay focused and have never had an idea that just got under my skin enough for me to spend days and months fleshing it out into a story like the ones I’ve always loved to read. I wanted to study Journalism it college, and write great things for some big name paper (Plan A). But then I got sucked into the Air Force and military life (Plan B) and I never looked back. Life happens.

So I could best be summed up as a Dabbler in many trades, Master of none.