A meeting. Last night. Parents Association. It's like the PTA only smaller and more awesome. We talk about working concessions for the upcoming basketball games, we talk about the new student teachers from Concordia who love our school lunches, we help plan the upcoming Valentine Adventure (a dinner and show hosted by our k-2 students and pretty much the cutest thing you'll ever see in your life) and replace things like popcorn machines and get our husbands and brothers to do patch work on part of a wall torn out to work on the pipes. That kinda thing.
I went. I voted. I read the thank you notes. I saw my friends and I was reminded what a blessing it is to be a part of this community.
Each teacher includes a report about what's all going on in their classroom. I have kids in 3rd and 4th and 7th. I read the 7/8th grade report. The teacher wrote that the students were working on algebra and included a problem for the parents to tackle if they so choose.
If you know me, you would know I never so choose to do math. But last night, during the meeting, I was trying to solve for X to see if I had it somewhere in the back of my brain. I did not. I brought the problem home to Jon and we sat together at the kitchen table trying to math. We could not figure it out. And Jon CAN math. In 15 years of marriage I do believe that was the first time we've ever worked on a math problem together. Kinda fun. Weird, frustrating fun.
My boss at work is taking his 4th grader to Grand Island on Saturday to take the ACT as part of some experimental project through Duke University. That kid could probably solve the problem. I'll stick to writing songs.
The mountain includes clean laundry, a pocket calendar that is covered in scribbles and dates, basketball games, meetings, damaged hair that needs more than a leave-in conditioner, day dreaming about great songwriters, working out, trying to get rid of the chub, thinking about chia seeds and how I should eat them, the mouse who we've named Pete that we can't seem to catch, the song that needs to be recorded, the ice and snow that's gonna need a thaw for me to get it off the driveway before March.
Stay cool, everyone. Go out there and be brave. If you can't math, you're not alone. We can put ourselves out there and sit in the vulnerability of not knowing and try to learn. Outside the comfort. Get out there.