(This post is not intended as arrogant as it will start out. Bear with it)
God has given me many gifts. I can, and have, build a Duncan Phyfe sideboard (or Gustav Stickley, or Shaker, or a style known in a small circle by my own name), rebuild a Chevy small-block and make it purr like the proverbial kitten, develop new industrial processes which become patented, build a frame house from a stack of lumber or a log cabin without a kit, or completely change the inside of a house by removing walls and redsigning the interior. My services have been sought for designing kitchens in half-million dollar houses. I have a quantifiable good eye for color, and have influenced seasonal color pallets for 3 major houses of fashion (get this kids- I used to do color design for Victoria's Secret!) I can repair virtually anything that is broken, and I was at one time a certified pipe welder. I have been told I am an empath, and somehow become the company therapist every where I have worked.
But human nature being what it is, I deeply covet the one gift I am most lacking- musical ability. There are days I would trade all my other skills to be able sit and play the guitar with 1/2 of Dickie Betts' skill. Why?
Music is probably the single best way to make a large population happy. Even before today's mass communications, music was available to large groups. Moods of an entire nation can be influenced (Josef Goebels new this and used it for nefarious purposes). Even the worst day at work is softened when a happy tune with personal memories attached comes on the radio during the evening commute. Fussy babies are comforted by a lullaby. Hearts are won by a serenade (o.k. being able to repair the voltage regulator in a VW helped me to win Rootietoot's heart, but how much better could it have been to play and sing "Blue Sky?"). When a small group is together for an intimate gathering, the experience can be made better by one member strumming gently on a 6 string, but saying "come on gang, let's go to the shop and tune the Chevy or make a piece of case furniture" doesn't really have the same effect.
And every one of us has at least one song which brings memories (hopefully good, but sometimes unpleasant) pouring in when you hear it. Mine are an eclectic collection, from mine and Rootie's "special song" Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers, to Pyromania by Def Lepard and Ravel's Bolero (doesn't that make you curious?).
I can influence my own mood by music selection. If I'm angy when I get in the car in the evening, the Allman Brothers can always make me happy. Led Zepplin (select songs) can be uplifting too. If I'm feeling mellow, Lynyrd Skynyrd is good to pump me up on my morning commute. That's a powerful medicine.
You have to understand how bad my lack of musical ability is. Even trying to sing or humm to the boys as babies made them cry harder.
363 days a year I am satisfied with everything about my life, but what I do brings satisfaction to a very small circle. Some days I wish I could reach out to a larger group, and music would seem to be the best way to do that.
So- 2 questions: 1)What songs evoke strong memories for you and 2) What skills do you not have that you desire deeply?
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This is MY Happy Place- I write for me here. I will warn you it gets syruppy sometimes. If you get some enjoyment that's good- but really it's for me.
3 comments:
1) Queen/David Bowie: "Under Pressure". This song always tugs on my heartstrings. It just reminds me of my youth, wasting time hanging out with friends. Time gone forever, that sort of thing.
2) I have lousy spatial geometry skills. This means I can't assemble IKEA furniture, as I can't make head or tail of the diagrams and the pieces. Also, it means I can't play chess, because chess involves the same kind of spatial thinking and logic. I wish I could do both these things!
I can verify that Sweet Daddio is not arrogant. He's just accomplished.
Strong memories- ANything from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboys
I wish I had social confidence. I never know if I'm wearing the right thing, or saying the right thing, or remembering someone's name or job, that sort of stuff. So I just keep my mouth shut and let them all think I'm a dim bulb.
Jo- isn't it funny how we take what we have for granted. I can not only put together kit furniture without looking at the instructions, I can build complex pieces without a blueprint or diagram. I see it in my head then start making sawdust. I've never considered that others can not.
Thanks for coming by and commenting.
Rootie- your bulb is never dim, and you can no more disguise your bright light than a leopard can change his spots.
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