Mis-Matching Talents and Making It Work

My daughter Veronica sings and wins awards. I sing and break glass.

I think musical talent must skip a generation. My dad was an awesome singer, Veronica has his gift.

She loves singing and I listen, but I can’t help ‘train’ her or advise her in anyway about controlling and growing her talent. I’ve always been an outsider in this part of her life.

But this week I’ve been offered the opportunity to ‘man’ the sound booth at our church. I’ll be trained of course.

Although I have minimal interest in those knobs and controls and music (country or gospel) for that matter, I see this as a golden opportunity to be a part of my daughter’s singing life. I’ll be useful, instead of just the chauffeur, at her practices and events.

Tonight’s my first night. We’ll see how it goes…

It’s a silly thing, but I got to thinking…what do 12 year old girls do when they’re together – other than giggle and gossip about celebrities and cute boys at school?

And, if my daughter is one of my buddies, then why aren’t I doing those things with her?

Now there are some things that are out of my reach (I’m not ‘up’ on the music or celebrity scene), but I can easily do the snack food hour, scary movie night, and makeup experimentation with her.

My point is, and what I learned from it all, was that spending time with our children – sons or daughters – mustn’t always be about what I think has value, what I want to do, or what fits with my idea of a good time. As it turns out, meeting them on their turf and bonding at their comfort level is a very rewarding experience.

As my daughter ages I realize that I don’t need to spend all our time together being her mother – sometimes I can just be a pal.

Girl Day! Road Trip!

Today we took off in the new car, a standard tranny Dodge Caliber 4 banger, and headed out of farm country and into the city for a girl day.

My daughter is a born and raised farm girl. Schlopping all over the mall for a full day of shopping isn’t something she’s particularly ‘cut out’ for. Even though she’s 12 and loves clothes, shoes, fashion, action – she’s just not used to shop after shop, taking more than the alloted amount into the change room and trying it on ‘just to see’.

I’ve taken her for one of these girl days before – shopping, dinner, driving with the tunes up – and she was exhausted for two days afterward! Seems that the ‘city girls’ are the pansy-butts she always thought they would be – they’ve got lots of stamina at the mall!

We had a blast – even though she’s wiped out now. Nearly 10 hours of one on one, laughing and singing and learning to walk in heels.

This day will always be remembered, many cherishable ‘moments’ in those 10 hours.