I'd rather be Crafty

I've always had problems with the word and concept of being "crafty". The very word bothers me, as it should.

The actual definition of Crafty is: Skilled in or marked by underhandedness, deviousness, or deception.

In the ten different dictionary sources I pulled up on the Internet, not one of them listed a description of a person having the ability to participate in many different crafts.

No, but if you look up arty (and who even knew that was a real word?) you find the following description: Of or relating to artists or the fine arts.

Fine arts? What the hell is that? I think of ballet, sculpture, painting, singing . . . things that have little to no impact on my life.

I have often had non-crafty people assume that since I can do so many things I must be able to draw, or paint, or sculp, or . . .

I can't.

Over the years I've come to realize that anything that requires a certain set of steps to produce a reaction, I can do. I can sew, do stain glass, crochete, bake, etc. But if something requires a great amount of artistic input -- choices on color, design, layout . . . not so much.

At different points in my life, enjoying crafts has subjected me to near second-class citizenship. Stand around a room of executives talking about their interests and just imagine the look on their face when sailing, painting, dancing, etc, is followed by sewing. LOL

As we age, we not only gain a better understanding of ourselves and our needs, but an acceptance. In my twenties, my mother-in-law told me that while I was a "Jill-of-many trades, I was a Queen of none". My interest in most crafts has been in the ability to conquer them. As soon as I feel half way confident in my ability to do anything I want, I loose interest and move on.

I have never sought to become an artist in any field. This simple thought released a life-time of feeling inadequate about my skill of being crafty. I've never spent years, hell, not even months, polishing an ability. Never taken more than one class on any subject. Never poured over every book about a craft I could find.

When it comes right down to it, subconsiously I've always preferred being crafty to arty. And it's only takem me forty years to figure it out.