Jackie has been playing the clarinet for three years. She is very talented and we delight healing her play often. She doesn’t practice daily or from her own initiative, except on occasions, but I’m so happy for her and her skill and passion. I wonder about her old desire to play the cello, or initially the violin. There was no teacher available for the cello at the time when she started music school. But she was also struggling with her scoliosis and the kineto-therapist did not think it was a good idea to strain the spine even more. Some people develop scoliosis because of the instruments they play. I was so glad she found this way of expressing herself. Her dexterity when she started school early, was not the best. But we didn’t have a term for comparison.

Fast forward a few years, and we noticed Ivy’s incredible skill with the pencils. She has an abstract imagination, she draws buildings, our home with accuracy. We joke that she is an architect in the making. She builds with lego and she draws and draws and draws. Today she had an artist teach them to model in clay. The piece of art she brought out was fantastic. I asked her who made it. She said she did. I was in slight disbelief. But she does follow instructions well. She observes, she is steady with her hands. She did create a face out of clay. And she was so happy that it impressed me.

As a kid I wrote a poem and I overheard my parents discuss that they didn’t believe I wrote it myself. it was an affirmation of my skill. I thought. I took it as a compliment.

Two sisters. One a gifted musician. Another one with incredible talent for fine arts. I’m a mathematician. I’m an economist. But art is precious to me. And it brings me incredible joy that both of them have their own talents.