November 10 ......My talents...

Like all of Heavenly Father's children, I was blessed with talents.  Some apparent, some I didn't figure out until I was older.  I'm grateful for all of them, but my musical ability has brought me the most joy.

Apparently, at about four years old, I begged and I begged for Mom to teach me piano.  She resisted for a bit, but finally she caved.  We went along until I was about eleven or twelve, when I started complaining about practicing and wanting to quit.  She told me that if I learned every single hymn in the hymnbook, THEN I could quit.  The Lord gave me this talent, and I needed to at least develop it enough to help in church.  By the time I had finished that task, I was enjoying playing again.  I remember being asked by my violinist/best friend to accompany her in 7th grade when she played a concerto for the band/orchestra concert.  Her mom could have done it, but she wanted me too.  I had to work hard, but it was so much fun!  In High School I was accompanist for the concert and show choirs, and after High School I played for the Institute of Religion choir for seven years, which is where I met Sam.  Although he married the wrong girl first, silly man.

I moved to Utah in 1984, kind of on a whim.  There were lots of things I liked about it, and a few things I wasn't crazy about.  I never really got used to driving in snow and ice.  I hated it.  One morning, driving to work in Salt Lake City, I hit a patch of black ice and spun out and ended up smashed up against a light pole.  I was mostly OK, but something was very wrong with my left hand.

They took me to the hospital, where one of my co-workers showed up a few minutes later.  As they x-rayed and examined it, she asked the doctor if it was going to affect my piano-playing.  I was shocked she'd even thought of that, I'm sure she'd never heard me play.  I certainly hadn't thought of that, I was mostly thinking,  "OW!". The doctor said, "Oh, she's a musician?" and before anyone could answer scurried out and came back with another doctor, who looked at it and said to call a hand specialist.  The biggest bone in my middle finger was smashed into several pieces, which required surgery, some wire and couple of tiny screws to fix.

When the surgery was over, I could not straighten that finger at all.  My doctor told me that although I'd get some movement back, the chance that I would get it all back was very slim.  He prescribed some physical therapy to help me.  That night, my awesome home teacher came up and gave me a priesthood blessing.  In it, he assured me that it would be OK.  I worked hard at my physical therapy, and started typing at work and playing piano even before it was fully healed. My friends were very supportive and encouraging.  I think that the blessing's assurance that  it would be OK if I did everything I could, kept me going through the pain of physical therapy and the frustration of trying to play again.  Or it could be just plain stubbornness.  It took close to a year, and my doctor was amazed, but it is completely healed, and other than a long scar down that finger you can't tell there was anything wrong with it.

I have had the opportunity to participate in so many amazing things as a pianist/organist.  I love just sitting down and playing for fun, although I don't do it nearly often enough.  It's a great stress reliever.  I enjoy playing the organ for church, I REALLY love when I get to crank it up all the way for Stake Conference.  SO FUN!  I love the hymns, several of them have special meaning for me, and I'm so grateful that the Lord blessed me, multiple times, so that I am able to play them for others.