By the time you get to be seventy-six years old you are quite aware of all your gifts and talents. I have been told that God gives all of us some gift or talent that we should use for the good of those around us.
Some people REALLY are gifted . . . I have always wished that if I could ask God for one special gift it would be to play the piano by ear. I have known people who can listen to a piece of music once and play it from memory. AND make it sound beautiful. Unfortunately my musical gifts were apparently left under the celestial Christmas tree because I can't play an instrument or sing a song without children running screaming to their mothers.
Some people can create the most amazing pieces of art using paints, clay, wood, metal, chalk, ink or just about any other medium. Once again I was not gifted in that area either. Other people have an eye for the unique and/or beautiful things that surround us each day. They can see something, take a picture of it and capture amazing images. I take pictures that usually include the tip of my thumb or the inside of my pocket. Photography is not my area of expertise.
My oldest grand child is a gifted chef. She loves to bake and cook the most delicious foods. My oldest son can solve math problems in his head. He thinks in numbers. My youngest son has a gift for painting and drawing. Even as a small child he was always drawing something. My second oldest grand daughter is a genius crafter. She can take a simple object and create something wonderful from it. These gifts and talents just seem to come naturally to these people. God gave them a gift, they recognized that gift and then did something with it. How amazing is that ?!
As a child I took piano lessons for several years until the teacher finally told my parents to stop wasting their money. I was TERRIBLE !!! But I did try. In college I tried playing golf . . . that was worse than pitiful. I also tried skiing. Having gone to college up state New York we had lots of snow so naturally I thought I'd give it a try. After sliding down the "bunny" slope BACKWARDS I knew this was a waste of my time and energy. My mother taught me to crochet but I am limited to square afghans and pot holders. If you stop to think about it an afghan is really nothing more than a big pot holder.
So here I am, seventy-six years on this earth and not a single talent to mark my existence.
UNTIL TODAY . . .
We left "The Farm" this morning on an adventure. The Man has a doctor appointment tomorrow at the Veterans Hospital in Milwaukee, four hours away from the UP. That is the closest VA hospital that has a cardiologist on staff so we get to spend 2 nights in the "HOPTEL" that is affiliated with this VA. It's a small building with about 20 rooms that look exactly like a hospital room for two. It is free to stay here if you are a visiting veteran here for any medical reason. We have stayed here twice before and although it is convent, clean, free and well stocked with a full kitchen housing a full fridge for us to use it is NOT the Ritz Carlton. It serves a purpose and it is a good excuse to take a "trip". The biggest complaint about the hoptel is that it is FREEZING ! You can't adjust the room temperature so we have brought blankets, sweatshirts and sweatpants in order to be warm while we are here. (It must be a government thing or something but it doesn't make sense to keep an entire building SO cold that our lips are turning blue.)
All of that has nothing to do with my newly discovered talent.
As we were driving from the UP to Milwaukee we drove south along the Western shore of Lake Michigan. It's a lovely drive along a 2 lane road winding through very wooded areas. Because it is so sparsely populated there are a lot of poor little animals that have tried to cross the road only to becoming road kill. And THIS is when I realized my talent . . . I can identify all sorts of road kill with just a glance as we fly by at 60 miles an hour ! Naturally the deer are the easiest . . . they're big and brown and have antlers. It's the small critters that give a person difficulty. But no problem here for me. I was able to identify 2 rabbits, a porcupine and a raccoon. (Skunks are super easy because you can smell them before you see them.)
FINALLY, I have realized my gift and will be using it on any trips to come.
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