50 years ago about right now I was taking my second attempt at 'Introduction to Algebra' as a sophomore. I had flunked my first shot at it as a freshman. Math just didn't seem to hit me straight in the head. I always blamed it on my mother dropping me out of a basinet as a baby, a 4 ft. drop landing head first on some metal closet door tracks. I am sure that has something to do with the trajectory of my life.

The funny part was I really tried hard in all my math classes. I wanted to be good at math. It seemed like magic somehow. This was way more than a math block. I came in with the lowest math score in my high school class SAT's. I was so low on the graph they thought I had not taken the math section of the test. They even called me into the office to see what was going on. It didn't make it easier that every time I saw an illustration of 'The Tree of Knowledge' math would be the trunk, science the main branches and the humanities the little skinny branches. And I wasn't even very good at 'arty' stuff. My branch was a twig that had already broken off and fallen on the ground.

I took and failed Algebra 3 times and finally struggled through the 'Consumer Math' class for mouth breathers as a senior with a D. But, I have been able to figure out the math I needed to know since. Funny how having skin in the game with money sharpens up the math skills. As a real estate agent I had a fancy real estate calculator and got pretty good at figuring out percentages and commissions. I guess they use algebra to go to the moon and stuff. I am afraid my dreams of becoming an Astrophysicist died early. By the time I was a senior I knew I would be pretty much faking it from there on out in life.....