Daily Q

Question:  What is a secret avocation you wish to fulfill someday?

Answer:  First of all, I had to look up the definition of 'avocation'.  It means:  something one does in addition to their occupation, especially for pleasure.  A hobby.

I had a really hard time with this one.  I thought about it for two days.  Which means I pulled it out of the jar and am backdating this post.  Here is what I discovered about myself.

I like too many things and want to try them all.  At first, I thought this might be a bad thing.  You know, 'jack of all trades and master of none'.  I pondered about that a lot during my day starting out being hard on myself thinking of it as a weakness.  I know many people who have picked 'one' hobby and have made it their passion.  I admire that.  These are the friends I go to when I need help with a certain something and they are the ones who mentor me when I try something new.

I picked up fine crocheting again when I was asked to make leper bandages for the Humanitarian Center a few years ago.  That turned into edging baby blankets these days and some vintage pillowcases and I'm thoroughly loving it.  Now, am I going to make a tablecloth?  No. See what I mean.

Same with embroidering.  I love to do it.  It gives me such satisfaction to complete a project.  I give a lot of my work away and hope it brightens the homes to where it goes.  But am I going to enter a selection in the state fair competition?  No.

I had a random, in passing, conversation with an older friend once a while back that came into my pondering mind.  When she was 70 years old she went back to school and learned to be a massage therapist.  And before that she got her cosmetology license in her 60's.  Every few years she acquires a new skill or avocation.  Now that she is 80, she is reading books and doing book reviews.  I perked up.  She always has the desire to keep trying and learning new things.  She masters as much of them as she needs to keep her mind fresh and young, and help others, and fill needs in herself too.

So, maybe that's the kind of person I am.  Or maybe I just haven't found that ONE thing that I'm uber passionate about yet.  I'm going to my first quilting retreat in two weeks and I'm so excited!

What I can say is that I am not a scrapbooker.  I thought I was and that I wanted to be back in the early 90's.  I spent so much $$ on supplies and tools.  I had too many years to catch up on.  I have very few albums to show for my investment.  I have however used all those tools for school reports, family things, cards, tags, and other kinds of paper projects.  I felt guilty for years when I would see other friends albums.  I made my peace with that a few years back and it was wonderful to finally say it out loud.  The same can be said for Tole Painting.  Been there, done that one too.

This has been a long prelude to my answer for the daily question, but here are my current 'not-so-secret' avocations:

• Quilting
• Photography
• 5K run
• Swimming--I want to swim a lap without coughing and sputtering and make that neat turn at the end of the pool!
• Cake Decorating
• Cut Flower Garden
• Bread Baker
• Pianist--I am working on this one.  I set a goal at the beginning of the year to play through the entire Primary Children's Songbook and Hymnbook.  I want to be more familiar with the songs and better at sightreading.  I play 10 songs a day. Can't say I'm any good at it, but it feels good!