Common Magic

I have a gift.

Everybody does, actually. Everyone has a gift unique to them. Some little thing they do that's truly special. I knew someone who could tell the time without looking at a clock or watch to within 2-minutes accuracy. I used to test him because I thought it was incredible. I know someone with an ability to predict people's reactions years in advance to a creepy level of detail. Someone else I know has such kinesthetic awareness he's able to move through thick undergrowth in the dark without making hardly any noise. And still someone else I know walks so softly his very nickname is "Lightfoot". Everyone has a gift. Some people have two. My mom's is with plants, and cooking. My dad's is with the wilderness, and healing.

So what's my gift? I'm lucky. I have two.

First, and most well known, is my gift with animals. I'm able to understand them, and sometimes, even communicate back. I have dominated aggressive dogs, established territory against wandering mutts, made friends with hostile horses, won affection from wary cats, and made peace with wild animals like squirrels, deer, and rabbits. I have, in fact, managed to impress a man so ingrained with the knowledge of horses it's a part of his identity... by walking up to his ornery mare and her new foal, and getting them to snuffle me, steam up my glasses, and eat grass from my hands. I still hear the awe in his voice sometimes when I think back to it, as he turned to my dad and said, "Three months of feedin' that dang mare and she won't let me even near that foal." I didn't even think twice about it. I walked up in the proper way, communicating in body language - half-turned (non-aggressive), head lowered (unafraid), eyes hooded (not anxious). It's just how it's done.

The less-known gift is one I've recently discovered is actually something pretty special. I always thought this was just something everyone could do, but I seem to have a knack for it without even trying: finding things. Not places, mind you. I have a terrible LACK of an ability to navigate in anything other than the wilderness (and only that latter part because my father taught me how at a very young age). But things. Items. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not I've seen it recently. As long as I know what it looks like, I seem to be able to find it.

The weird thing is it only seems to work on items that don't belong to me. I'm forever misplacing my keys or cell phone. But if J can't find HIS phone, I think for a minute, and then tell him where it is. I don't know why I know it's there. But it usually is.

I wonder what gifts my other friends and family have. They may not realize it's a gift. They may simply do them or use them without thinking, like breathing or walking. Do you know yours?