Dusting Off Old Hobbies

When I was in high school, I loved to play the flute. After a late start in the 7th grade, I quickly caught on to the fingerings and played my instrument all the time at home. I was in a highly competitive marching band, back in the glory days of competitive bands. We'd often compete in two shows a week, squeezing a morning and evening show in on a Saturday, after playing for the football team Friday night. Or, we'd find a Sunday afternoon show to compete in, and tack that on to our usual Saturday competition. 

Our "band camp" started the day after school let out and went through the summer. Every day, hours a day. I remember the senior band members driving around in a hearse (you read that correctly) to pick up the kids who didn't have rides to rehearsal. We also had this sketchy van with carpet on the sides that our band director added to the fleet when the number of kids needing rides grew. 

(As a school administrator now, I cannot believe any of this happened.)

My senior year, I was selected to play the piccolo in the marching band. This was a huge deal, guys. No one had played the piccolo in our marching band in something like a decade, so to be trusted to play an instrument whose sound could cut across the entire band, when trophies were on the line, was significant. There was even a time I considered majoring in flute instead of voice, during my stint as a music major in college. 

Then life happened. I was a voice major, then an English major, then a wife, then a teacher, then a mother. I occasionally played the flute in our church for special occasions, but even that fell along the wayside as my own children were performing instead. 

Until this fall, when I approached the conductor of the Williamsport Flute Choir (yep, that's a thing, people) and asked if I could possibly join their ranks. Ya'll, he said yes. Silly man. It's both exhilarating and terrifying to do something new (yet sort of not new) after 26 years. (Whoa, did I just say 26?) 

The other players in the group are far more experienced than I am, and I am absolutely here for it. I love being pushed to be better than I am, to be surrounded by people who are talented and who inspire me to improve. I also remembered how much I simply love to play -- even if I have to Google a flute fingering chart for some of the rare notes, or pencil in the names of stratospheric ledger line notes. There is even a concert, and guys -- they are going to let me play with them, even if they are secretly praying I don't screw them up the whole time. (Just kidding -- they are such welcoming & encouraging people!)

Friends, what did you used to love when you were a kid that you let fall to the wayside? How could you possibly dust that old hobby off so that it can bring you that joy again? No one needs to see it happen, like the flute choir concert. You don't need to show it to anyone. Maybe you used to write. Maybe you used to draw or sing or crochet or make stuff out of wood. 

Maybe, just maybe, you need to think about doing it again.