So we were at my parent's house tonight and had gotten on the subject of raising children today and how it is seemingly different from when we were growing up. We were talking about how some parents use different activities as a way of avoiding their parental responsibilities. A comment was made about a kid whose parents had him in tennis lessons, swimming lessons, and tee ball. The kid apparently doesn't even like tee ball. I feel sorry for any kid that gets forced into doing something they have no interest in doing. Too many parents, especially fathers, use sports as a way to live out their dreams through their kids.
I commented that I was glad my parents never forced me into anything I wasn't interested in doing. My mother commented that they wouldn't have been able to afford a whole lot if I had been interested and noted, half jokingly/half seriously, that they had to scrimp a little to pay for me to go to musical kindergarten.
It kind of dawned at me right then that I've always had a thing for music, even as a child. Music has always fascinated me, probably more so than computers. When I was in elementary school, around the fourth grade, they brought in an outside group to teach a quasi-orchestra of the school children. It wasn't purely extra-curricular in nature. I remember wanting to play saxophone or clarinet, but because of my braces and the overbite that they were trying to correct I was not allowed. I ended up playing the snare drum which was fun, but to this day I wish I had been able to play another instrument.
Even now I would like to learn piano or guitar, but I don't feel like I have the time to devote to it. So I live vicariously through bands and music of all kinds. I volunteer to do sound at church so I can learn the techniques of mixing and train my ears to critically hear music. The aforementioned book I am going to write is all about music and the effect it has had in my life and faith.
I think that epiphany of looking back across my life has opened up whole new avenues for my future and I can say that I'm really excited to see where the next chapter of life takes me.
