Gifting Someone a Talent & How to Give More than an Ordinary Gift
This post was written for Creative Nonfiction in The Ink Well: Prompt #9 Gift. In this personal true story, I will share with you how I found a new talent and a new hobby thanks to the guitar I was given as a gift.
I was in my early teens, I think I was 13 or 14. At that time, I didn't have any passion other than playing ball in the street and being mischievous with my friends. And it can't be for a child of that age. And it shouldn't be. This is exactly the age of getting dirty on the street...
My birthday has come. Today was an important day for me and I remember it very well. I remember that when I left my room for breakfast, only my mother and my sister, who was five years younger than me, were at home.
There was milk on the table and my favorite breakfast, chocolate cereal. I remember eating a big bowl and then, of course, filling up a second one and eating until my cheeks were full. It was going to be my birthday in the evening. I had to be strong. I thought we would have fun, guests would come and everyone would play games with me.
Afterwards, my mom and I decided to decorate the house. We took my sister with us. I remember walking down a cobblestone street and buying balloons from an ornament seller. Although I don't remember what the man looked like, the shop was very crowded.
When we entered that shop, my little sister started crying. My mom bought her something as a gift to stop her crying. I don't remember what it was. Then we started walking home and we saw many of our acquaintances on the way.
We came home and started decorating quickly and within an hour or two the decorations were finished. We hung balloons, put sticky decorations on the walls, put some ribbons on the table, hung ribbons on the door of the entrance of the house. I even helped my mom prepare the cakes and pies.
When evening came, our relatives started to arrive. My father came back from work. But he hid something behind the outer door so I wouldn't see it. I didn't see what he hid until after the gifts were given.
People gave me their gifts and finally my father gave me his gift. I was surprised.
A guitar?
But I didn't know how to play the guitar?
It didn't matter.
For days after that, the guitar stayed outside and I never put it back in its case. I gave my parents a headache every day. I started to play ridiculously irrelevant music until the strings broke. I started to imitate the guitars playing in the songs I heard on TV.
This helped me develop my ear for music.
When the summer came, I went to a course given by the state. There were people much older than me there and I felt very small and bad. When winter came, I left that course and started taking lessons from another old uncle. He was a very kind and sweet man.
He taught me how to play the guitar. But he didn't teach me sheet music. He taught me to feel the guitar. He taught me to play what I heard, what was where on the guitar, what sound to make and how to make it sound.
It took me a long time to learn the notes and I was surprised when I heard the rumor that James Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, didn't know how to read sheet music.
Years passed and I saved my money and bought myself an electric guitar.
We started playing music in the school band, I started my own band and we started going to music studios and having fun.
This guitar, which was given to me as a gift at a young age, pushed me to spend time with my friends who were interested in the same quality of music instead of spending time with punks on the street.
After all these years, I have painted the guitar that was my first gift and hung it on my wall. It has a special place in my heart because I learned a new skill thanks to that.
I think everyone should think about such things when buying a gift, even if it is small.
Instead of buying a t-shirt, you can buy an ukulele.
Instead of buying a coffee mug, you can buy a flute.
Instead of buying a pair of pants, you can buy a painting set and canvases.
You can buy sports equipment, even if he/she doesn't do that sport, you can make him/her use it and get enthusiastic about it.
Believe me, it is not difficult to give a child or a teenager the skills they need for self-development.
Examples can be multiplied.
Thank you very much for reading, I hope you liked it.
What a nice gift your father gave you, even you didn't know you liked music, it is very nice that you keep it as a souvenir, it is certainly a priceless gift. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you very much for your dear comment. 🤗
That’s very true; encouraging a child can be as easy as offering an appropriate gift. Sweet memory about your definitive birthday gift, too 🥰❤️💕
From now on, I plan to give gifts to all the children around me so that they can take up new hobbies. Thank you very much for your comment 🤗🤗
The maxim is : give your child a hobby and it might turn into a career. For you, that guitar changed the trajectory of your life. It gave you something to expend your energy on and it developed your natural talent. I’m sure that your father must’ve been aware of your musicality otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen an instrument for you. Your memory of the “guitar birthday” is wonderfully vivid, it’s a lovely read. Thanks for sharing a piece of yourself with us on The Ink Well.
Please remember to support fellow authors in the community.
Indeed it did. I made a lot of new friends thanks to the guitar. The number of people around me increased. My experience has changed.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful comment🤗
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At a young age it'll be easy to practice and develop the skills as they grow and it'll stick with them till old age. I'm so happy you discovered your talent very early.
Actually, I wasn't very talented, but I can say that I learned through hard work and the encouragement of my teachers. We need to be careful with children. Thank you very much for your dear comment. 🤗
That's a very good point. Maybe a guitar changed you at many points in your life and made you a different man.
It certainly is. These are the kinds of skills that can affect social life. In this way, they also affect personal development. Thank you very much for your comment 🤗🤗
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What a beautiful gift you received that set you on a better path in life. I agree with you, thoughts should be put into gifts we give.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a sweet comment 😊
What a beautiful gift your dad gave you, because of this gift you could find your talent, I love playing guitars too.
Yeah, really! Playing the guitar calms me down a lot sometimes. What songs do you like to play the most and if you can recommend me a song to listen to, I would appreciate it!
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It is a beautiful gift. Maybe your father wants you to become a talented musician. Or your father knows you have a talent in music. I enjoyed reading this story.
Thank you very much for reading and commenting. My father always wanted to be interested in music when he was young, but he could not do it because of the difficulties of the period and financial problems. I think that's why he bought me a guitar early on.
I love your story, @arduilcelebren. You're so right about meaningful gifts for kids at that impressionable age. We never know when an instrument, a paintbrush, or a drawing set might inspire a young artist.
Yes, it definitely is, especially when buying gifts for children, we should prefer to buy something that they can emphasize their creativity instead of buying standard toys. Thank you so much for visiting my post. 🤗🤗
Oh! That was touching story my friend. Sure thing, you really treasure that gift given to you by your father. Thanks a lot for sharing a wonderful family story.🤗
Yes, it means a lot to me and I had a lot of fun painting it. Now it's in the living room of the house and it's always in front of my eyes 😁🤗
Wahh! If only I have that kind of talent my friend.😌
Oh that's a really rich gift, making you a new hobby to love... There are just some gifts that goes beyond making you smile, this is one of them.
Thanks for sharing this story with us 😊
thank you so much for such a heartfelt and beautiful comment 🤗🤗
You're welcome