It was a rare phone call. It was made even rarer still by the content: He thought he'd come see Dia. Being that a visit isn't an every day thing, I suggested he take her ice skating. "She is taking lessons and I'm not much use for practice time since I don't know how to skate", I explained.
"You can't skate?" he said.
"No"
"Can you rollerblade?"
"No"
"Can you skateboard?"
"No"
"Can you ski?"
"No"
"Can you surf?"
"No"
"What can you do?"
Wow. I had to think about that one. I muttered something about how I could run slowly for a very long time and changed the subject. But after we hung up, it lingered. What can I do? I had a weird childhood where I didn't participate in any sports or clubs and everything I dabbled in, I did just that: dabble. I took piano, sort of took ballet (when I was 6), had some voice lessons... Sort of.
So what can I do?
Last night on the drive home from the O.C., with Dia asleep and her snoring my soundtrack, I took inventory and it went a little something like this:
I can fold a fitted sheet. Properly. By myself.
and
I can catch spiders with my bare hands and take them outside.
I got stuck after that.
Of course there are things I can do - like physically do them - but nothing well enough to be social about it. I'm a wizard with finances and I write better than the average bear, but those aren't really marketable traits for social situations. I don't know a lot of people that want to make a budget, balance their checkbook and write a journal entry over cocktails.
After a few more snores from the backseat, it came to me.
His ability to do all those things and more (he's an accomplished drummer and painter too) doesn't make up for his inability in the most important role we have. Without being able to skate, ski, or balance on pretty much anything wobbly - I got this. I'm her parent and I'm freaking good at it. She probably wishes I could skate. After all, she constantly begs me to "get off the wall" when we do go. But I know for sure she wouldn't trade me for the world. Skates or not.
So that's what I can do.
