Time Well Spent

I have no claims to any enlightenment experiences, extraordinary talents, elevated humanity that have brought me well-deserved and hard-earned fame and fortune. But I have made some good choices as to what I considered important and put in the needed time to accomplish some. They have been proven time and again to be useful, to bring something worthy to various occasions and uplift me in the process. Simple things that any of us can do if only we thought them important. May I suggest you consider them? 

Here’s my partial list:

 

• Memorizing poems: I’ve chosen some 20 to 30, mostly classics from Shakespeare, Yeats Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mary Oliver and such. Useful for reciting (not reading) at weddings, funerals, Thanksgiving grace, workshops and more.

 

• Jokes: Lots of them. If I meet a fellow enthusiast, we trade back and forth, each one suggesting the other. Again, good openers in public speaking and crucial to have some on hand when hanging out with children.

 

• Storytelling: Some 15 to 20 in my repertoire drawing from fairy tales, folk tales, myths. Perfect when hiking with grandchildren complaining that they’re tired, for bedtime stories and for gatherings around the campfire.

 

• Songs—Some 200 songs with melodies, guitar chords and words all at my fingertips and tip of my tongue, mostly from the folk repertoire. Again, perfect for anything gathering with children, but good for adults to and a healing experience in the pandemic neighborhood sings I led. Additionally, another two to three hundred jazz songs with melodies and chords on piano (but not always all the lyrics), perfect for my weekly gatherings for seniors at The Jewish Home for the Aged. 

 

• Children’s games: Again, some 20 to 30 I can call up without much effort to enliven any music class, be in with kids or an adult workshop. Some 15 folk dances can be included here.

 

• Card Tricks: Have been spending Thanksgiving break with my granddaughter remembering some we learned from a book I gave her and learning some five or six more. Up to maybe 10 on a good day. Good to have at hand stuck at airports when a fellow stranded passenger started showing me his.

 

•Juggling: Useful when a group of Guatemalan children back in 1975 gathered around me while traveling through their town. And other such occasions.

 

Add to the above skills like leaf-popping and table rhythms and you have the foundation for a life well-lived. And note that all of the above is stored in the muscle-mind-memory and is not dependent on a single electronic device, book or piece of paper. So also good when walking to keep yourself company—especially the poems.

 

Give it a try!