Friday, April 27, 2012

The gift of writing

I've been thinking about writing and how it has changed my life. I'm wondering if it is a spiritual gift or a genetic gift or if I just said the same thing twice.  I've always thought of it as a gift from God and I'd remember that parable about the master handing out talents and that one guy who buried his.  I still don't get why he did that.  But then, when I look at my kids, I think, Holy cow. Writing is genetically coded into their cells just like the color of their eyes - because my kids can write.  They write WAY way, better than I did at their age.  I have a daughter who is an amazing poet.  And I'm not saying that in a fit of misdirected mom pride.  I'm in awe of her.  And my son could be a political writer for the NY Times yesterday.  Okay, I really do sound like I'm bragging here, but I swear that's not my objective.  I'm just pointing out that talent runs in our blood and it shows up in our kids.  And that goes for every parent out there.  Will it skip a generation? Sure, here and there.  I have a brother who is a great artist.  Did not get that gene.  But I have a couple children who did.  It's funny how it works, isn't it?  I think as parents, no matter what talent we have passed on to the next generation, we cultivate it.  We encourage it. And we get to watch it grow.  Now that's a gift.

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