WHEN THREE IS NOT MORE THAN TWO

I sort of miss math.

That's another portion of my brain that powered down when I fractured my skull a few decades ago.

I miss my hearing more, but math was something that just 'came' before. It wasn't just memorizing multiplication tables and plugging numbers in, but there was a current there, a stream that mixed up the figures out and brought out the answers.

One of my favorite books in the whole wide world is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", and I would quote verbatim the section about how Francie assigns numbers human characteristics... unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the book here, and can't find enough on-line to quote it.

But I can relate to it - and if you haven't read the book before, you now have no excuse, so read it, and this is in Chapter 22.

Okay, so what were we talking about?

Oh, right, math.

So although any of my natural math-talents are gone like a freight train, I don't have a problem doing math - it just isn't as much fun anymore.

And especially there is no joy in trying to explain to certain individuals how certain basic mathematical principles work - like if you don't spend money, then it is there when you need it in an emergency - it If you pay things on time, you do not get charged late fees or get anything nasty on your credit report.

There is such a thing as assigning priorities even outside of math - and I cannot seem to communicate that.