My friend LOVES basketball. A few years ago she and her husband were watching a women's college game with another couple. She expressed how much she wished she were playing. The husband of the other couple told her to not just wish - do something about. So at 40-something my friend went back to college and made the team!
I LOVE music. When I was twelve I was singing camp songs while pushing a little girl on a swing. She stopped the swing and asked what I was doing. I replied, "Singing." "Well stop!", she said. Stop I did - entirely. I did not sing around others again until I had babies of my own, I would sing to them at night. When my first child was a toddler he called me into his room to hear a tape he was listening to. He said, "Mommy, that lady has a nice voice." When my second child was a toddler he told me, "Mommy, I like when daddy sings." At 40-something, thanks to me friend's example, I started voice lessons. After a recent recital a little girl came up with shining eyes and said to me, "I liked your song, it was pretty." I made the team.
My oldest child, now a teenager, is TALL. He is frequently asked if he plays basketball, the answer has always been no. This summer he decided he would regret, when he was older, not trying basketball now. He's trying out for the High School team. I hopes he makes the team - regardless yay! for trying.