I’m not sure how it’s 2025.  I feel like we were just welcoming the year 2000, but here we are, folks. Twenty-five years into the milenia and 54 years into my time on earth and I somehow am still trying to figure things out.  For example, as I approach 55 I am wondering who I am in this part of my life, what I want to do next, where did this spare tire around my mid-section come from and will I ever be able to say 55 without hearing Sammy Hagar’s 1984 hit, I Can’t Drive 55 playing in my head?

As I sit here in the early days of this shiny new year, I realize that I have no answers to these burning questions.  Sure, I have some ideas, some things I would like to try, but nothing solid such as I would like to be an astronaut.  Which by the way I have zero desire to strap myself into a rocket ship and soar into outerspace.

Rather, as I look out over these next 30-40 years, God-willing, I want to do so many things.  It matters less if I find THE thing that I’m good at and more about trying all the things that have rattled through my brain over the  years.  In fact, at the end of last year I took a pottery class.  If I am honest, I am not sure making pottery was ever really rattling around in my brain before my friend suggested we take a class, but then the idea became intriguing.  So, in late October, Andy and I took a pottery class with a group of friends.  Guys, it was so much fun learning something new and completely foreign to me and doing it with friends was the icing on the cake.  There was a lot of laughter as we all tried this new skill.  

For the record, I will not be investing in a pottery wheel anytime soon, but Andy may.  My engineering husband surprised everyone, but mostly himself, with his ability to throw a bowl.  Our family of five could have been eating cereal out of his pottery collection for years had we known about this hidden talent. You never know what you are capable of until you try.

In this new year, I have already started a watercolor painting class.  Our instructor assures us that we will not be leaving with a masterpiece at the end, as her job is to teach us the skill to paint our own Picasso-inspired gem at home. As I have only experimented with varying degrees of water thus far, I will have to keep you posted on my progress.  I am feeling a little optimistic, though. I mean I am a girl looking for her passion after all.

This idea of taking classes and trying new things has got my creative juices flowing.  What else do I want to try?  I mean, I really want to be that person who has an easel and paint brushes sitting outside painting the landscape, but I am open to other options.  Maybe pickleball will be  my thing or tennis, swimming or perhaps I have some untapped talent that I have yet to discover.  I mean, Andy didn’t know he was a potter until the end of last year.  It really feels like anything is possible at this point.