Recently, a friend of mine referred to me as “A real Renaissance woman”.  I knew it was meant to be a compliment so I smiled and said, “thank you!” While I always enjoyed dressing up and going to the Renaissance Faire, I must confess:  I really had no idea what a “Renaissance woman” was.  So I looked it up in our modern day encyclopedia, the internet.

• dictionary.com states that a Renaissance woman is “a woman who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.”

Hmmm…  OK, I’ll accept that.  While I have profound knowledge in my jewelry making, I also have knowledge of and great appreciation and proficiency in several other fields. To name a few, there’s sailing, music (especially old R&B and Motown, late 50’s and 60’s rock and roll music, and 1970’s rock music, New Wave, and disco – stop the teasing!), dancing to that music, cooking, wine appreciation, family board games like Scrabble and Taboo, card games including poker and Cribbage, baseball, road trips, fishing (freshwater preferred), animals and flowers, cruising – I could go on.

• wikihow.com gives several tips on becoming a Renaissance woman/person:

  • Be talented athletically

  • Be musical

  • Understand art

  • Be educated

  • Be well-read

  • Have a good family and economic life

  • Be brave

  • Be thoughtful and generous

  • Be courteous

  • Be a leader

While I do or have been all the above, I believe that the most important traits to practice on a daily basis are courtesy, thoughtfulness, generosity, and bravery; and especially one which is not listed:  happiness.  We owe it to ourselves and all those we love to be happy – happy with who we are and happy with what we have.

Me?  A Renaissance woman?  I guess the answer would be yes.  And thank you, my friend, for giving me one of the best compliments ever.

I love the hat