Where did that come from?

I am quite beside myself at the news Team Teal has qualified for the World Skipping Championships in Shanghai.

Oh my gawd oh my gawd oh my gawd!

I’m not quite sure when Worlds are yet, I think late July 2018. I asked my ex if he knew when he texted the news they’d scored a place on the Aussie team and he replied “I am just going to finish climbing this mountain.”

He was VERY surprised by the announcement, which came after much ponderous number crunching at the conclusion of the National Skipping Championships. He’d been assuring me since Sunday that it was highly unlikely they were going to make it through.

But they did! And an excited photo of the youngest wearing an Aussie team rep cap popped up on my phone!

I’m still baffled by the awards both my kiddos won over the weekend. It can’t be genetic. The only things I’ve ever been good at are reading and writing, but I’ve never won an award for either, other than a few book prizes at school.

Isn’t it funny what your genes can go rogue and create?

Let’s start with the eldest scoring the runner-up prize in the local art competition. She reckons it’s just because I’ve been sending her to art classes since she was seven, but I told her it’s more than that. You can teach someone technical skills, but that doesn’t mean they can create something beautiful.

I certainly couldn’t, despite doing 3-unit art for the HSC. Honestly, I was totally devoid of talent.

My major work was a black and white photocopy of a photograph of me that I put a colour-wash over. Beside it was a crudely sewn pink 3D handbag, out of which tumbled photographs and momentos from my life – an ode to a popular advertisement at the time by Glomesh that included a line about being able to tell a lot about a woman by what was inside her Glomesh bag.

It was pretty ordinary, trust me. But I was good at the essays, so I streeted the subject.

The arty thing doesn’t come from the eldest’s dad either. He’s also more the wordsmith, though he adores going to art galleries and waxing lyrical about the exhibits.

And then there’s the youngest with her skipping … my ex and I are even less sporty than we are artistic. Her skills completely baffle us.

I was always last to be chosen for sporting teams. I was so bad that even the PE teachers made fun of me. I am totally uncordinated. I can’t even play Simon Says. The idea of jumping with a partner between double dutch ropes doing tricks … far out, brussel sprout!

So how does that happen? Where does that ability spring from?

I’m incredibly proud of both my kids and their vastly different talents. I gaze in awe at what they’ve achieved and how far it lies from my skill sets.

Go them!

Song of the day: Kylie Minogue “Spinning around”