Hobbies add another dimension to our lives
Sherry Young
One of the things my husband, Grit, most enjoys is watching football, especially professional football. Unless he has a particular interest in a team, college games are way too long, in his estimation. Given the opportunity, he will click from game to game all day. It is his only real obsession. Good thing it lasts a mere four or five months and he goes to church at least three hours on Sunday.
His love of the game didn't do much for our only daughter, Melissa, but it got all four of our sons interested. They all played into their college years, although Jim switched to lacrosse and had a great experience.
We never know when something we're interested in will come in handy. Our son Tom wanted to do an anesthesiology residency at Yale University Hospital and was invited to interview. On receiving the letter, he noticed that the names of his three interviewers seemed to be those of two women and one man. He was somewhat concerned about the gender balance, but the one "woman" turned out to be a man named Jan, who was a football aficionado, and the other (real) woman interviewer noticed on Jim's resume that he had worked for our son, Steve's, Forever Young Foundation. In reading his resume, she saw his involvement with Project Smile, which was a pet project of hers, so it became a positive focus of their discussion. By the end of the interviews, Tom felt that his football experience with the bumps and bruises that go along with it and the time working for his older brother had paid off.
Trish went on to marriage, motherhood and a career, but she continued to scour each place she traveled for new treasures. She even passed on her passion to her husband. The hobby added another dimension to her life.
She is a pretty fascinating person anyway, but when I found this out about her, she became even more interesting to me. Can't wait to see her rock collection.
There is life's truth in the words of poet Hannah Szenes, whose great interest became protecting her fellow Hungarian Jews during World War II. She wrote, "In my life's chain of events nothing was accidental. Everything happened according to an inner need." Her poet's soul gave heart to many and though she died a martyr's death during the war, she left a great legacy of courage along with her poetry.
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