If Mrs. Geter could only see me now

I've always been bad at math and I never loved school. I believe I actually said, the day that I graduated from college, that if I ever had to go back to school I'd probably jump off the nearest bridge.

Oh, the irony, then, that my children are learning at home under my facilitation!

It's not that I don't enjoy learning. I do. Pre-algebra has never been on my list, though. So imagine my surprise when I embarked on the pre-algebra road with Larry this year and discovered I like it.

I really, really like it!

Mrs. Geter, who taught me geometry and algebra in high school, always believed I could do math. She thought if someone had slowed me down and really taught it to me, that I wouldn't have had any trouble. Unfortunately, by the high school level it's too late for that. She did, however, join me in my happy dance when I passed the *one* math course required for my college degree.

If sports statistics had been a high school course, I'd never have passed it. And yet I managed to keep pristine records for our state-runner-up high school baseball team. College math? Forget about it! And yet, I was right there at the press box/table, compiling, manipulating and arranging statistics for the baseball, football and basketball teams. Later, math was a huge part of my sportswriting career as well.

So why did I always think I was bad at it? Hmmm...

From early on, math didn't come easy to me, so I didn't want to do it. I was a precocious reader and writer so everyone thought I was "smart." For Pete's sake, I finished my Studybooks a year and a half early! And "smart" kids, in our tiny school, especially those with great parents who are ultra-involved in the PTA and Booster Club, got a great deal of grace.

Translated: I got away with being lazy.

I started really struggling when I was in third grade. Mrs. Jackson's class. You did NOT fool around in Mrs. Jackson's class, and I was afraid to tell her I didn't understand. She'd fix The Look on me and say, "Becky R., I know as smart as you are, you can do this work without any help from me!"

So I muddled through. I made my first C in ninth grade, Algebra I. I was horrified. Still, I was afraid to admit I didn't know what I was doing so I didn't ask for help. In 10th grade, I got Mrs. Geter for geometry.

For the first time, I understood and did well. Not A's well, but solid B's well. My lifelong feud with math (as Larry would say) was over. And then I hit Algebra II. Back to third grade and all the help I didn't ask for, all those years ago.

So imagine my shock when I determined to learn what I didn't learn back then alongside my child, and it became interesting. And fun. And...I understand it!

For all my ridicule-deflecting joking about my lack of math ability, I realize how extremely fortunate I am to be able to go back and pick up the knowledge I thought was lost to me forever. Second chances are rare, so I guess I won't be jumping off the nearest bridge after all.

Thanks for believing in me 20-odd years ago, Mrs. Geter. I'm gonna learn this junk yet.