During my life, I’ve acquired many skills. When I was four years old, my parents bought a pony for me to ride. After I out-grew Millie, I spent my teenage years straddling our horse, Mickey. While I was in school, I did a pretty good job of playing softball. During the time our kids were small, I made my own clothes and some of theirs. I quit sewing when I became a reporter. As a mother, I didn’t have time to do both.
Does all expertise fall in the same category of the idiom, “it’s like riding a bike,” commonly used to describe competence once learned, is never forgotten even after a long period of inactivity? A few years ago, I planned on attending the National Federation of Press Women conference. It required donning a long dress for the formal, Saturday night awards dinner. It seemed like a waste of money to buy the necessary outfit to wear once. As I looked over my wardrobe, I decided one of my tops would work if I had a floor length, navy-blue skirt. I could make the garment quicker than shopping stores trying to find one. Although it had been years since I sewed, I hadn’t forgotten how but I lacked the finesse.
One of the skills I regret not learning is to swim–it always looked like such fun. During the summer while I was growing up, I longed to stop at the public pool on Kilburn Avenue when we drove into Rockford. Dad kiboshed that idea with, “Would you get into the bathtub with others?”
When I was dating Ken, who could swim, we would go to a lake on a hot, Sunday afternoon. He was considerate of me and only played in the shallow water to cool off. We enjoyed lying side by side on a blanket spread on the sandy beach.
While Ken was in the navy, my cousin, Doris, tried to teach me to swim one Sunday afternoon when we visited our mothers’ Aunt Maggie and Uncle Martin at Lake Koshkonong. I guess it was too little too late. I could do the Deadman’s Float but when I started moving my arms and legs, I sank.
As parents often do, I made sure our three children learned to swim by making weekly trips for lessons at the YWCA in Rockford. When we took a traveling vacation with our pick-up camper during the summer, I always looked for campgrounds with pools. The kids could burn some of the energy that had built up while they spent the day riding.
Do you ever wonder if you could still master any of the skills you once had?