Skill Set

The big hope for my daughter’s father all along was to be a renaissance man, which I initially understood to mean someone who strove to rise to the level of multifaceted and multitalented achievement as a well-educated European of, say, the year 1492. More recently, and humbly, the hope has been to be a renaissance man of another sort – someone who could mark a new beginning in himself. To arrive at more spiritual rebirth of this sort is not the kind of thing to wish for lightly as it typically doesn’t come without a birth pang or two. Still, however painful, becoming a renaissance man of this sort remains less daunting than learning to draw in a serious way.

Despite the so-far unsuccessful effort to become a Leonardo da Vinci, I intend to offer my daughter what skill I have developed in the following: playing guitar, singing, surfing, juggling, writing, rowing, playing chess, speaking French and Italian, cooking, gardening, windsurfing, waterskiing, downhill skiing, snowboarding, swimming, badminton, tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and, of course, hockey. She may be interested in all of these pursuits, or none. As of this writing, the one I hope she would consider would be juggling. For, what sense of self-sufficiency and infinite possibility I still possess springs largely from the hours and hours I have spent juggling. Perhaps baby and I will do four-handed juggling, as her father has over the years with this friend or that.