"Mack the Knife"

I love this song, just love it. And since it's such a short song, Reader's Digest filled up the white space with more verses! Maybe all of them! If I like a song, I love singing all the verses, finding new verses, oh the glory of it. So this is all good. Also, I have very fond memories of dancing to this song with my friend, Fred, many years ago, when we went to hear Tommy and the Intrigues at the Brickhouse in State College, PA. The Brickhouse is now a parking lot (though I have a couple bricks), and I have no idea where Fred or Tommy is. But good memories. Ah, when they covered that Bangles song, too. . .

I'm glad to have a good memory for song and music. There are musical skills that I struggle with (arpeggios on the piano suck), but there are things I can do well, and remember songs and their words is one of them. I pale beside the phenomenal skills in this area that my friend, Maria, possesses, but even so, I'm not bad.

I also move well. I'm good at making something out of next to nothing. I have a good eye for color, and a great spatial understanding that comes in handy when packing the car or trying to move furniture. I somehow manage to keep in touch with a lot of people that I care about, over time and distance. I'm good at remembering details of form.

I could probably go on, but we'll hold at that for the real point: when did I become able to list my good points as easily as the bad? I remember years ago when my friend Quentin asked me to list some number of things about myself, each starting with 'I am great at. . .' At the time it was an incredibly tough exercise, though I did complete it. Growing up to some extent has made me better able to be honest about my standing in the world and history, which is not very large or important, but it has also made me more honest about what I am capable of here, in this family, in this community, in my little world. My flaws are plentiful, I agonize over my need to change and improve myself, and I hope I at least know about most of the areas that need it--but it is nice to realize that I know my strengths, for the most part. I'll figure out more as I go, it's worked thus far.