Non-Talent

This morning as I was laying in bed thinking about getting up, I was considering some of the gifts and talents I have, a few of which are rather useless. The one at the forefront of my mind was just made aware to me as I lay there in the dark. Reeder got up and I realized I was awake, so I guessed what time it might be..... As in: Should I be getting up soon to walk, or can I go back to sleep? (the clock is over on the dresser, I have to put on my glasses to see the time.)
Judging by how much awake I felt, and knowing I'd gone to bed a little earlier than usual, and the smidge of light beginning to come in the window, I guessed 5:30. I fumbled for my glasses on the nightstand and peered over at the clock. 5:30! On the dot!! As Reeder climbs back into bed I HAVE to brag about this remarkable ability. The tired man is unimpressed and quickly falls back to sleep before his weird wife draws him further into inane conversation.
"He just lay there... it was his only defense."

So I got up.

I have always been able to tell the time pretty accurately without actually looking at the clock, and it's been a game over the years with the girls when we'd be out running errands. Before someone checks the clock, we'd all guess the time. They always hoped they'd be closer to the actual time than their mother. I stopped wearing a watch decades ago since we are usually surrounded by clocks anyway. And in the mall I had no compunction asking a passer-by for the time, to the abject embarassment of my daughters that their mother would just engage a complete stranger in conversation.
Once while out with a friend, this topic came up and I told her the game with the girls. So she asked me what time it was right then. I was like, "I don't know.... Ummmm, 2:28." She pulled out her cell phone and sure enough, 2:28! We laughed at that, I had just pulled some numbers out of a hat, I hadn't really put any thought into it.
Obviously this is a stupid ability. There are so many gifts that would be so much more useful! Like perfect pitch, or diagnosing disease (or I know you're thinking it, picking Lottery numbers. That would be sweet.)

On a very random note - I can juggle. I taught myself that 25 years ago and you would think that would be a pretty useless talent in a non-circus household, but it actually has some practicality, in a limited setting. When I am rummaging up in a cupboard or high in the pantry, and something accidentally comes sliding out, my hands automatically catch it as it falls. We usually only see the object out of the corner of the eye and then try to prevent it from falling, but our reaction time to bar it from coming off the shelf is just too late, and it crashes to the counter or floor. But my arms react differently now, I automatically reach down low and catch the item just before it hits the counter. It totally surprised me the first time I did that. This talent has only a tiny bit of value; but it has saved us much glassware.

I am good with words and names, and in doing genealogy that comes in very handy. And in meeting new people, too, in trying to remember names. Tho it helps me to see the names written. I guess I'm a visual learner.

But I shine when we are playing wordgames like scrabble and boggle (tho Chelsea has been beating me lately!) and one called WordTwist -where you are given 6 or 7 letters and have to unscramble and find as many words as possible, including the long word - forming words is a really nice trick, but has no use in real life, not really.
One night as Jim and I were sitting here watching TV, I was playing Word Twist on the laptop. I looked at the 7 letters and immediately knew the long word. It was something like A E L N S D C. I knew it the second I looked at it, and I turned to Jim and practically yelled, "What USE is that? So what if I can rapidly unscramble some letters and see a word? I am not a spy nor cryptologist, so it's pretty useless in everyday life here in Mesa, AZ."

Maybe I should go serve my government or something, or see if Dan Brown needs a writing assistant on his next novel.

I think now I shall go practice juggling. Maybe I will juggle candles.