The woman who makes her parents proud of every single one her accomplishments
It is never more apparent to me how badly I mangle numbers, than when I go back to revise something as simple as the date and years of certain events in my life. Granted some I want to remember, and others I block out as a defense mechanism. I totally botched the dates surrounding my father's passing when I featured him in my blog this past week. It's usually my astute husband who says, "honey, you may want to revise that year, and then change the total from..." you get the idea. I'd always said I wanted my blogging to be raw, without input from others, and/or another set of eyes for proofing, well I can promise...it certainly comes to you uncensored. And unfortunately, if you are looking forward to my accuracy regrading numbers...you are fresh outta luck. I am able to go back and make changes...so for anyone who may have read the original version (in other words just about everyone), I apologize for my oversight. This is who I am, no sugar coating...just the facts...the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly truth.
In many instances, I'm more anxious to get my thoughts down, than I am with addition and subtraction. And, unfortunately, I have absolutely, positively, no memory for numbers either...not only do I lack an aptitude for basic math...I can't remember a number to save my life. I honestly believe it is a form of dyslexia, in my mind, the numbers move around, the way I see them in the page, does not translate to how I store them in my head. This has occurred since my early years of learning, back when we were required to memorize the multiplication tables. To complicate matters in my young mind, when I was in catholic school, we actually had this strange little contraption called an abacus, to help us learn math...clearly I failed miserably with that little apparatus, and just never mastered the subject. I had no desire to become friends with the numbered world, and chose instead to devote all of my time to my first love, reading. Let's face facts, in my mind, Algebra was just a dirty word and something I wanted no part of....eventually I'd get my wish...we never did have a mutual admiration for each other....math went one way and I chose the other.
The young student who would never completely feel the need to understand why numbers were so important
When I think back to my years in school, perhaps instead of drilling me on my spelling words while I was drying the dishes each night, I should have had my father test me on my math lessons. I'm sure he probably did, I just prefer to put those unpleasant memories out of my mind. I remember when I entered Jr. High School, they were trying to introduce the metric system into the curriculum...oh brother was I in for a load of trouble!!! As with most math, I just flubbed my way through it, hoping it would all go away...well at least with the metric system I was right...the necessity and use soon fell by the wayside. If I had picked up even a small amount of an understanding for the system, it actually would have come in handy when we lived overseas and the world did revolve around me in metric numbers. I found a way to survive for those three years, I'd just ask Roger to convert everything for me. Liters, meters, and kilos.....just a foreign language I had no desire to learn. I actually had a much easier time of learning German....the written and the spoken word have never been a problem for me, unless of course it involved doing my homework....but that's another story.
If you are having difficulty understanding any of what I'm working towards...I'll make it very simple....I was a very average student, with only one goal in mind, to graduate and get the heck out of school. Thank goodness, neither of my children followed in my footsteps and were very good students....and luckily for both of them, learning never appeared to be a difficult task. As a parent, I was more than pleased to note that they enjoyed being in school, except for that time Brian tried to get off the bus and run back into the house...but I'm thinking he was just a little guy at the time and it was more about separation from his Mom than his dislike of learning new things. He eventually went on to finish his college education a semester early and has had a very successful career employed in his chosen field. He knew as a very young student, that he had an affinity for computers, and loves working with them, as he has for most of his life.
Brian knew at this very young age, he loved computers...how cool is that???
Please understand that my current use of math is not a struggle, I've made my peace with the world of numbers, and am quite comfortable with them, just don't ask me to do any long division!!!. I find that having a calculator close by always helps to soften the blow, when trying to work on monthly expense reports at work. Although it was never in the cards for me to go beyond basic Algebra in high school, I found that I did love and excelled in both computer class and biology...and I was holding my own in bookkeeping until the second semester, when Roger was transferred into my class and seated directly behind me, but that's another story. Interestingly enough, I'm the one in our family who is responsible for keeping track of our finances....pretty scary thought. But then again, I'm also the one who can find the most inexpensively reduced items, and once in a great while, I'm able to locate a great coupon and/or a rebate. Not so bad for a kindergarten drop out....oh did I forget to mention that halfway through my very first year of schooling, I woke up one day and just told my mom I didn't want to go back, and because it was not mandatory at the time, she let me stay home. I'm thinking that probably wasn't a very good idea....lesson learned, if at first you don't succeed, try try again...and please find a way to love your numbers, I have!
Have no fear, most everything I do at work uses the reading and writing part of my brain...the arithmetic I leave to the calculator...as it should be!!!
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