Talents

"the dance is over
the applause subsided
but the joy and feeling will stay with you forever"


I've spent my life trying to find a talent.  Being an extremely fast and prolific reader is just not a very cool talent.  Especially when you are a very nerdy 3rd grader who just wants to read at recess (and suck her thumb).  Especially when you are a still nerdy 9th grader and would rather stay home and read a book than spend time with friends.  Especially when you are a 35 year old mom and would rather curl up with a book instead of go do something with your very social and active and outwardly talented children.

But it really doesn't matter what our talents are (and it's not necessary to hide how many books and pages read therefore not winning the top award in 5th grade out of embarrassment because you probably read 3 times the amount the winner read).  We all have different talents and abilities--whether it's sports or dance or music or cooking or playing Candyland or sewing or listening or art or cleaning or writing or computering or serving or gardening or jump roping or photography or digging with a backhoe or reading--and what's most important is getting that joy and feeling that will stay with you forever in knowing you've done a good job, you've been creative, you've stretched yourself, you've found satisfaction, you've pushed yourself and achieved even more that you thought possible.

And that's what I love about my girls!  They love to learn!  They love to try new things! They love to work and work and work to get better!  And they know that they've been blessed and must therefore make the most of every opportunity.  And they encourage me to be better and try harder and do new things!  Guess I'd better go read a new book!

And my girls' talents?  Obviously they got them from their dad.  Here he is in Indianapolis at the National Hoop Shoot.  Um, did they get their style talents from him also?