Giftedness, Cats, Household Chores, And Learning New Things

Sometimes life is about growing. Sometimes it's about preserving. Self preservation. Clinging to a buoy as to not get swept up in the storm. Sometimes it's just about being. And still sometimes it's about learning new things.

This blog is about new things I've learned.

In the 2nd grade Mrs Lipton, looking at my state exams, told my mother she should take me out of the gifted program. "Rebecca is not gifted."

"She got 2 out of 4 total math problems wrong. I think this hardly makes the case she's not gifted," my Mom would say.

Most of what happened in the next 10 years of basic education was my parents trying to prove Mrs Lipton wrong pushing me in programs that were clearly too difficult for me. Mrs Lipton was old and found no more personal spark in teaching, but she taught our class about dinosaurs, and she wasn't wrong about me. I wasn't gifted. I tried hard and I had natural aptitude for reading and writing and talking when I should have been working, but math most certainly was never my gift, and neither was giftedness. Years later I would open up that letter from the IRS pointing out the mathematical errors on my 2006 returns and give Mrs Lipton her due props.

Mrs Lipton died when I was in high school. I remember my mom telling me smuggly. "I bet they carried that nasty old woman out of that classroom. She refused to retire."

My mom never quite got over that blow to her darling 2nd grader.

I wasn't gifted and I'm reminded of that at unusual, nonideal and unfortunately painful times.

Like when vacuuming.

Vacuuming is fun. It not only feeds my obsessive compulsive tendancies, the sound is soothing, you start with something dirty and you can see by very real tracks in the ground you have made a difference. I have made a difference. I vaccuum often. When I can't change the world outside - I can vacuum. You know who doesn't like to vacuum? My cats. So holding one and starting the vacuum would probably result in one of those painful reminders.

New life lesson: don't hold a cat while starting a vacuum.