Everyone has a set of skills they consider "marketable". Husband's list extends nearly the length of his gangly arm. Honestly, who teaches skydiving, does small engine repair, changes brakes, starts an IV and sews? All wearing the same gloves?
Marketable skills are great. I have a few myself and I am keeping them finely tuned. I may not be supporting children with learning differences but I do talk to my fellow countrymen on a daily basis and trust me when I tell you, it's keeping me sharp. Sharp like a fox.
Aside from the skills that get you paid, though, I'll bet you have small skills you are secretly really proud of. Husband is secretly very proud of his ability to set up a tent in utter darkness with, and this is the important bit, less swearing than if he did it in broad a daylight.
My mother is justifiably proud, if a bit smug, of her knack for making a Yorkshire Pudding that rises from the pan like a billowing cloud lit by the last golden rays of an autumn sunset. She's equally proud never sharing the secret of how to do that.
My dad can whistle any tune recorded before 1969, if it was featured on the Grand Old Opry stage, or in a film about surreys and fringes.
And I...am a shower house ninja.
I have mastered the subtle art of showering in a communal hut without touching the walls, curtains, or in some highly necessary cases, the floor.
Spiderman could take pointers. It's not something that one gets a chance to brag about, because one immediately has to field a bunch of pointed questions.
-Why are you staying in these places?
-Who would force you to spend precious vacation and weekend hours in these places?
-Are you being kept against your will?
-What do you mean, you don't touch the floor?
Which sort of interrogation is the very reason these little skills are kept secret. I don't question your ability to just know when a picture is hanging slightly crooked "somewhere in the house", and you are not allowed to cast aspersions on my ability to cling to furniture in fungal avoidance.
