“The snow squalls are easing up this morning,” I said to friends driving from our place to Collingwood, “then redeveloping sometime this afternoon. Then, Collingwood will be getting the snow.” With that advice, they left just before lunch and had a great drive.

My family calls me the weather guru. I am able to give a pretty clear picture of what their drive will be like and to suggest shifts in route or the timing of their travel. Having commuted to work from Walters Falls – north, south, east, and west at different times – I learned to pay attention to the winter weather patterns of our area. Winter weather is one of the things I am smart about.

We are all smart about some things and not others. I invite you to think about what you are smart about as I explore areas of expertise.

Meeting up with a colleague who announced he had been working on taking apart an old computer to refurbish it, I was well aware that I am not smart about electronic repairs. I do not have the capacity to fix either the programming or the hardware. My response to his description of what he hoped to do sparked me to say that I am only good with repairs that require a large wrench and a pipe (the pipe gives more leverage to loosen the tight nut). Small electronics are beyond me.

I only got to be good at repairs with wrench and penetrating oil because farm machinery breaks in the middle of time-sensitive jobs. Often, I was the only one around when the machine I was working with broke. And there are lots of repairs that really require two people, so even if I was not the driver, I might well have to assist with the repair. This knowledge is fading a bit as I don’t farm now, but I still have that pipe to get tough lug nuts off a flat tire.

With thirty years of preparing services, I am pretty smart about that work too. I have not been doing Sunday supply, but I have from time-to-time written services for lay people to deliver. It’s been good to keep a finger on that work.

As much as I love music, I am not smart about playing it. I am pretty good at choosing music for church and leading new pieces. But I play no piano, no guitar, and only a little clarinet. The problem with guitar is I can’t tune it. My ear is awful. Back in Grade 12, I placed higher than a classmate in the Kiwanis festival. He complained to the judge that I had played the whole thing flat! “But,” said the judge, “she did not make a single mistake.” Needless to say, my classmate is a professional musician now, and I hardly touch the clarinet.

Planning I am good at. Coping with changing plans less so. I am a good cook, but not so good at following a detailed recipe. Though I do understand that with baking you have to be exact.

Writing is becoming a skill, but I still have to work at it. Weaving is an occupation I enjoy, but it is not really a strength. I know that because I have friends who are beautiful weavers. I wove some lovely pieces with coloured wool from our sheep that I spun myself, but my slubby spinning would not make a smooth anything. I sold my spinning wheel to someone who is doing lovely work with it.

I don’t have good hand eye coordination, and my hands are stiff. They tense up. My handwriting is horrible, and I can’t paint or draw. I can hammer a nail with either hand, and I attribute that to the fact that I learned to wield a hammer in the barn where you often don’t have room to use the hand you prefer. In fact, I was ambidextrous with all farm tools, which makes me wonder if I might have been left-handed if I had had the choice.

Listening I have learned. Patience I am working on. Listening patiently I am pretty good at. Listening patiently is one of the ways that I can figure out what other people are smart about.

I hope that you can take a moment to stop and consider what you are smart about.

Cathy Hird lives on the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation.