Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

I believe that God has a sense of humor. When I fell in love over forty years ago, one of the things I noted was that my husband loved math. He told me that in high school if he had a headache, he would do a math problem and the headache would go away. I gaped at him. If I did math and ran into something unsolvable to me, I’d fret and try to figure it out and felt a sense of gloom descend. Often, I’d give up and then when I entered math class it would occur to me that I wasn’t done with my homework and the time to get it done was forever gone.

Feelings of failure accompanied me into the room with a rising sense of panic. Tonight my husband glowed as he explained binomials and trinomials and how he’d learned something new he could teach his math students. He’d stopped at Barnes & Nobles and bought two math books that helped with review. Finally, I asked, “What is a binomial and a trinomial.”

Two hours ago, I could have told you, maybe I still can now that I think of it. A binomial is x + 2y = 25. A trinomial is x + 2y +17= 89. The numbers may or may not make sense, I just threw some in there. I listened attentively, my brain felt like a key was turning in a rusty lock, and I felt shock that I got it. He always could explain math to me in a way that clicked. When I was young, I had a hard time keeping it in my noggin’.

I notice now that if I use math it comes easier to me and there’s no stress because I’m not getting tested on it anymore.

Have you ever tried something new that you never would have due to a relationship? I tried playing organized basketball in college because of my husband. Other sports as well. I had become a born again Christian a year before leaving home for college. He listened to me speak about Bible reading and searched for a church I recommended early in our dating history. He’d accepted Jesus many years back, but never got discipled. We have broader interests now because we have different interests in many aspects of life. Have a great day!



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