Superpower #18: Art!

The first thing your many fans think about when they think of your superpowers is not art. Since time immemorial, high school has divided itself along consistent lines. The athletic kids do not tend to mix socially or from a strength perspective with the artsy kids. The athletic kids, usually the more “popular” (see post 14), think the artsy kids are weird. The artsy kids think the athletic kids are shallow. It’s a tale as old as time. As has been well established, you definitely fall far onto the “athletic” side of this spectrum.

Imagine our surprise in the last two years, then, to learn that you had been identified as one of the more talented artists in your class. Each year, the art teachers at your high school select a small handful of works to display at the local museum of art. In each of the last 2 years, a work of yours has been selected. Last year, your picture was a drawing you had done of your feet in athletic shoes (some small irony there?). This year, your project was a stained-glass pineapple. (Pictured here is you holding them both. On the deck railing beside you is a ceramic blueberry you created in art class).

Here I must confess that throughout most of my life I, too, identified much more closely with the athletes than the artists. Consequently, where I missed almost none of your extraordinarily storied basketball career, I did not make it down to the art museum to see your works on display. Part of my excuse for this is that the art museum isn’t open past 5pm, which makes it challenging for a working mom. That said, however, you and I both know how many countless times I left work as early as 2 in the afternoon to go watch you play a sport. So, this is only part of the story.

The other part of the story is that art is not a particular interest or passion of mine. I enjoy it well enough, but I never have a lot of confidence in my impressions of works of visual art and I don’t feel a deep pull to it. Literature and writing are different for me—this is where my personal intersection of art and athletics occurs. For you, however, crafting, drawing, and painting remain a quiet, unsung part of your superpower repertoire.

You don’t often sit still to paint or craft. Where your sister can work on meticulous projects for hours at a time, you can rarely be found sitting still very long for anything. Still, it is not unusual to find evidence of a project or two around the house (often on my work from home desk that I would prefer to keep tidy and set apart for work).

This superpower puts you among the ranks of the quintessential renaissance women—one of those few and lucky souls who can move through the world with a variety of talents and interests to serve you in whatever circumstances you find yourself. While sports will always be your first love, I hope you are able to maintain your enjoyment and talent for art throughout your life. Remember your brave little pineapple project, hanging among the works of more devoted and focused artists and remember that you have more superpowers than you even imagine!

It would also behoove you to hold onto your love of crafting and art as you grow older. I'm sure it is hard to imagine now, but trust me when I say there will come a time when your body isn't able to maintain some of your more active hobbies, including sports. I once read that an athlete dies twice; the first time when she has to retire from her sport. Though my career was nowhere near as storied as yours, I can tell you that my longing to continue playing basketball lingered deep into my adult life. Unlike men, women basketball players (at least of my generation) are rarely able to continue playing after college. The available pickup leagues typically attract almost exclusively men. Perhaps the surging interest in the WNBA and Caitlyn Clark's legacy will mean more basketball opportunities for women throughout their lives than there are now. But even if that happens, there will come a time when you'll have to hang up your high tops and find different hobbies to fill your time. My love for reading has been a great comfort to me over the years, and I hope you can take a love of art projects into your future as well. There may come a time when you have some hours to spend doing something you love, and those hours may come when your body can't do as much as it can now. I hope you can dust off this superpower when the time comes.

Art is an unexpected superpower for a lively, social, and athletic girl like you, but it is certainly one of them. May it serve you, and the world, well in the years to come.