BB is my friend. BB retired a few years back and, what with a grown child and no grandchildren (yet) plus a husband who still works, BB had to figure out what to do with her days. She is a creative gal so soon she was making jewelry. Really nice stuff. Then she took up photography with a good camera and everything. And now … well  now BB is painting. She hand-paints gorgeous cards and beautiful pictures. I buy her stuff all the time because it is REALLY good.

This is the incredible reinvention of BB. A woman who never did any of this stuff BEFORE she retired and now she is a veritable smorgasbord of creative delights. BB is on fire!

I would like to be like BB. I would like to find something new and exciting to tantalize my spirit and fuel my days with passion and commitment. I just don’t know what that something might be?

Now don’t forget, the operative word here is NEW. I haven’t exactly been lazy. I mean, I wrote a book and then published it, I recorded a jazz CD, I write blogs regularly, I’m editing a book for a friend, I have moved a lot and redecorated a lot, I love helping my pals with interior décor, I’d like to think I am a creative (and willing) cook and still sing every now and then.

But none of that is new. Not new like BB’s new stuff.

My beloved has his “new”. I gave him guitar lessons for Christmas and he has embraced this new pursuit with zeal! He practices every day and seems to enjoy it. He even enjoys showing off his callouses. My friend L has her “new”. She is knitting up a storm (and lots of blankets) because she wanted something to “calm her nerves” during this pandemic. And J has found his “new” too. J has purchased a snowmobile and is determined to conquer the trails of northern Ontario.

Go team!

So what is my “new” going to be? I do love taking photos and considering I pretty much live “in” a postcard, that might be the obvious choice. Problem is I have no interest in buying a fancy camera, learning about apertures and speeds and creating a dark room in my home (because film is berts, right?). I have a phone and a view. I’m good.

My friend S says I should learn to paint. I mean, I have the view so I should learn to paint it. I seriously cannot draw a stick man. I have zero artistic talents and zero interest in painting a picture … or a wall. My father took up watercolours in his 60s and he got good! I have three of his works proudly displayed in my living room. I did not inherit that gene

My beloved would be thrilled if I learned to dive. As in scuba. Not a chance. I love to snorkel but trusting my breathing to some apparatus attached to some sticky suit is not my idea of fun and will NEVER happen. The fishies and I will just have to commune closer to the surface.

Sewing, knitting, quilting, crocheting, needlepoint, rug-hooking … you name it, it ain’t me.

Doing a puzzle? Also not me (I got one for Christmas … want it?).

Learning to bake? I’m really not much of a baker (read my book) but the real reason I will not learn to bake is that if I bake it, I eat it and I already have a gold medal in that sport. Besides, my new neighbour K is a baker and she delivers!

So what does that leave me with? Downhill skiing? Oh, I want to SO BAD but the slopes are closed (phew!). Cross-country skiing? Oh, the agony. Upgrading my piano skills? Yes, but that’s not “new”. Learning to sing opera? Fat (as in lady sings) chance. I was considering doing another jazz CD but decided the world has heard me warble enough … at least for this lifetime.

Learning Italian?

Now that is something I would consider IF I could live in Italy for 6 months whilst doing it.

The upshot is this – I have decided that, in order to find your “new”, you first have to find your “passion” and then you have to find your “desire” and finally you must find your “commitment” to implement them both.

Okay … here goes:

I have a passion for wine and I have a desire for blonde highlights in my hair. Should I become a sommelier or a hairdresser?

I don’t think so.

I will, however, sponsor a winetasting for two in my kitchen this weekend and I just might buy a box of Clairol and figure out how to get blonder.

Then I will gaze fondly upon my new BB paintings and raise my glass to her! Who knows? Perhaps there is more “new” waiting for me just around the corner?

Now that I know that I want it, maybe it will show up.