...utilizing a skill I haven't had opportunity to use in about a decade. And boy am I rusty (pun intended)!
Today I got to do a little MIG welding. The last time I did any welding was in college. I used to take pride in my pretty beads looking like a frozen version of the liquid metal Terminator in T2. Today they were splattery and ugly.
It's amazing how much one can forget and remember at the same time. That sweet finesse required to create pretty welds? I seem to have lost a lot of that. But that telltale smell of molten metal fusing together? It was instantly familiar and comforting. The crackle of electricity creating an arc of heat between wire and steel hummed a well-known staccato melody. And the feel of my small fingers being swallowed within the depths of thick leather gloves that still smelled of grass and sunny days, was like the caress of a warm blanket on a cold night.
It felt amazingly good to use my hands and the weight of my body to bend metal back into shape, to swing away with a hammer cling, cling, clanging, and to cinch bits together with vice grips and table clamps. Even before my brain could remember the words, I found myself reaching for wire cutters, or felt my arms moving with the muscle memory motions required for tilting or adjusting the welding mask. I can still smell the metal on me, and feel the memory of the heat on my skin. And I wasn't even working on anything big.
Anyway, just felt like sharing that with someone, and I figured you Crosstalkers might understand. What about y'all? What long lost skills have you found yourselves revisiting lately? Or what half-forgotten thing do you wish you could do again? Or even, what new thing have you been learning about recently? Let's hear it, Crosstalk! :-)