I have never been a crafty or creative person. I have brothers and sisters that always were the artistic ones in the family. It seemed they could draw anything on a piece of paper and turn it into a masterpiece, make something fabulous from a piece of fabric that you could see sold in stores, or make sweet music from a few notes that you know could be heard on the radio. Even my husband and daughter are creative. My husband can take a piece of wood and turn it into a beautiful piece of furniture or a decorative bowl that sits on your kitchen table. My daughter can dance her heart out on stage that makes you feel like she is in her own broadway show. Me? I've always been the "bookworm" in school. I was always into my studies and participating in sports growing up. I could never make anything. I never thought I had the creative juices flowing through my brain, until three years ago.
My husband got me a wine-making kit one Christmas. I'm not really sure what his thought process was to even get me that. Maybe he got tired of us going to the liquor store every week to buy wine for me. I started with the smaller bottles, and then I worked my way up to the economy-sized ones. Maybe he thought we were spending too much on those bottles of wine, and this was a way to help save money. Or maybe he thought I'd have fun making my own wine. Either way, I think he knew I was still going to drink wine.
It took me several months to do something with the wine-making kit. I kept looking at it wondering, "Do I really want to do the work to make the wine that I so enjoy?" So, finally, my husband convinced me to try it. Once we made our first wine batch, and let it age the appropriate amount of time, we sampled the "fruit of our labor". It was actually pretty decent. So I drank it. My husband is not a wine-drinker, so the wine was really just for me. It did take me a couple of months to finish off the wine we made, so don't think I'm that much of a lush. Anyway, when that was gone we realized we didn't have anymore ready to drink. So, we knew we would need to have a system of wine-making where we would not have a shortage at any given time. This began the creation of my ingenuity.
Wine-making is one of my hobbies. But even more than that, I love that I am able to change something that starts off as one thing and ends up as something else. I never thought I was someone who could make something with my own hands. But, as it turns out, I am.
Isn't it interesting how we go through life thinking of ourselves in a certain way? As we grow, we change. As we change, our lives change. Isn't it amazing how our lives change? I've been making my own wine for three years now. I've gotten a lot better at each wine I make. Last year I was not able to make as much wine as I wanted to because of the cancer. There were three months that I didn't make anything. This year, I've commited to making more wine than I've ever made. (I don't plan on drinking it all this year.)
I love having a passion about something and diving into it. I love that I can make something and enjoy the results of what I made. I love that we can be creative even within our own passions. I want to savour what I've done because if I can't, who will? Life has thrown me more sour grapes...and I'm going to make wine out of them! :)
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