Everybody Has Talent--You Just have to Discover What Yours Is And Get Good At It...

 Dear Fishes-

       Today was a beautiful day for a few reasons; the sun was shining gloriously, I got to hear from friends and see their talents being displayed, as well as my own. Today I woke up late (also because I deal with with M.S. and all of its side effects daily) because I work late and so it wasn't until the afternoon when I got together with a friend to go sing at a local nursing home, called Stonehenge in American Fork. 

      Whilst at Stonehenge in American Fork, my friend played her violin with earnest (and if I knew by which magic how to place videos on here, I would have. She's that good.), we sang together (sans violin and con violin) and I read Harry Potter to the residents in different accents--people may say that's racist, but I call it hogwash. When you're reading, you're trying to get the character down and sound like what they would in the book, given the intonations and dialect of the character--that's part of the magic of reading and listening combined--otherwise it would be boring as hell and few like that... 

      My friend played beautifully and is up there with Lindsay Sterling. There. I said it. She's that good but my friend doesn't think so. She's amazing and deserves accolades because of how good she is at playing music on her violin. She lovingly takes care of her instrument as if it was an appendage of hers. I can't blame her because it's so important to what she does and how she expresses herself in life. She'll be playing at my reception in August and I can't wait for others to hear her because she's inexplicably fantastic. I hope she becomes famous some day soon, even though that's not her ideal of success. 

       While she played her violin, I sat with amazement and just listened to her melodic charms through the plucking of chords on her violin as well as the deliberate movement of the bow. It was in sheer delight that I giddily clapped for her after she played each song. To not do so, would be a travesty. We also sang together without the violin and we sounded pretty dang good as well. I sang riffs of songs, along with sometimes knowing all of the words to songs. I had to look up words far more often than I'd like to admit, but it comes with the territory of having M.S.. Our voices complemented one another quite nicely. I wish I had recorded us singing together, but her phone had died and we didn't have a tripod to hold the phone too. 

         Little did I know that I was going to see my mom when she came into the hallway of Stonehenge. She had been at physical therapy and was doing some walking exercises due to her most recent stay there because of three falls in one day, a month ago. My mom then came in a wheelchair to where my friend and I were performing at. It was lovely performing for my mom and brought back old memories of doing such in the past. It was good seeing mom. I usually would visit almost daily, but I've been off a couple of days. I wasn't able to visit some more of my friends that are residents there because of time restraints, but I'll visit them soon. 

         After we performed, I told my friend of how good she did. She should be listing herself as a professional because she is one even if she doesn't believe in herself yet. I can't wait to sing with her more. Also, we both have bachelors' degrees in English and that's pretty cool. We both love books of course and love to listen to Audible. I'm currently listening to Dale Carnegie's book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" because it should be on everyone's reading list for at least once in their lifetime. He teaches basic skills of how to communicate with others and redefine your relationship with words and how you convey your message in a way that is received and not deterred. It's a clever book, really. While it's an old book, its principles are still admissible and poignant in today's world even more than it was when it was written. 

           Later in the day I ran into a neighbor (that lives in another building and we don't see each other that often) and friend that wrote a beautiful children's book that unites all Christians with its message. It's called "Christmas Oranges" and has done quite well. So well, that it was made into a movie. I asked her about the process of writing the book and she was quite helpful with her words of wisdom, so much so that I want to ask my Bishop if he wouldn't mind having her speak at a fireside for others (specifically for my Mid Single Adult brothers and sisters within my religious community) to hear of her touching story as well as the miracles that took place in her life and her close family's lives. Since writing the book, she was able to help others in her family when they were going through rough parts of trying to exist and stay afloat. I would go into more detail about it but it's something for her to share. I felt privileged to hear her story and was sad that I hadn't ever asked about it previously. Her personal story made me cry; it was a story of redemption, miracles in her personal life as well, along with finally being seen by her community for the wonderful human being that she is. I saw her in a different light and was humbled by it. 

            My point in conveying all of this is that sometimes you have to dig deeper with how you interact with others and get them to come out of their shells. Most of us, including myself at times, feel this need to not share our complete selves and when we do that, we miss opportunities of understanding others and their perspectives. Life is about connections and helping others succeed, as well as ourselves, or at least that should be the mantra of most human beings. I love finding commonalities with others because it makes life a lot more palatable and makes this cruel existence with autoimmune diseases worth living. 

See ya in the sea anemone, 

B.