I have a theory on smartness (yes, that is the technical term). I propose that an adult female has a certain reservoir of smartness available to her. Each time she gets pregnant, the growing baby, in need of smartness of its own, saps some of the smartness from her reservoir, leaving her happy, but less smart than before. I think I am a prime example of this as with the birth of each child I become more scatterbrained and less quick witted. I simply don't remember things that used to be no problem. However, this weekend I had a surprising surprise. I got a call from my younger brother looking for help with his calculus homework. Naturally, knowing that my smartness is depleted (not to mention it has been 12+ years since I have attempted any calculus) I was skeptical about whether I would be able to help. However, my reservoir of willingness to try anything once is not so depleted so I opted to give it a go. Happily, when I arrived at his house and opened the book I found that although my smartness has thinned, apparently the calculus pods were still intact. Between the two of us (with one late assist by my brother, Kevin) we were able to complete the assignment without too much difficulty. It was nice to be able to work on difficult problems and solve them. It helped me remember the person I once was, smart. My eight year old has a tendency to think that I don't know anything, or very little, and sometimes he is right. It was a great joy to remember that I do know something once in a while, and that my smartness isn't entirely gone.
1 comment:
I totally agree with this hypothesis and I've only had one! But, I think I am the most scatter brained when I am pregnant. I should write down some of the stuff that I've done because I'll probably think it's funny later. Let's just say, pregnancy and cooking don't go well together. Brian assures me that he thinks it's cute. I'm just glad that I don't always have to have a pregnant brain. And, I am very impressed that you can still remember calculus!
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