Dear Morgan,
You love drawing, writing stories and playing "store" with your sister.
But you hate math.
You love showing compassion to people, decorating your room with art and listening to music.
As long as it isn't math.
Even though you rock the reading at school and act clowny at home, nothing can change your mind.
About math.
I know that right now it makes no sense to you. From your vantage point, there is nothing emotional or creative about mathematics. But hear me out. You're going to want to know this when:
Some guy asks you out to coffee and you're not sure if he's paying or not. When he whips out a bill that is greater or smaller than the amount, you'll get an idea. That's math.
When a sleepy-eyed cashier doesn't see that the item you bought was actually on sale, you can kindly and deftly bring it to their attention.
When you're counting the days to Christmas. Or homecoming. Or graduation.
When you make your first cake all by yourself (from scratch). Half cups of sugar. Whole cups of flour. That's math. It's also science, but let's just focus on the math part.
When you decide to start a little cottage industry business. And suddenly your twinkly, swirly, sparkly dream needs addition and multiplication in order to make the best decision for your business to grow... Well, there's math again.
There are times when you will have the ability to use math, but you shouldn't.
When you are up in the night nursing your newborn and your bleary eyes see 2:13AM blinking on the digital clock, it's okay to take note, but it won't make you feel better to calculate how many hours of sleep you might get. Plus, it's spotty at best. Don't do the math then.
When you see a friend in need who asks for a couple bucks, just give it to them. Don't expect it back. It's best to keep your friendship.
When your heart is broken because of all the hours you have sunk into a project or a person or a thought that didn't work at all like you expected. Math really won't help there, either.
Here's what I predict: One magical day, all your strengths and weaknesses are going to bond together such that you won't even KNOW which ones are your strengths and weaknesses anymore. You'll be so adept at math and science and art and friend-making that you'll have to scratch your head to remember WHY you hated math in the first place.
And on that day, I want you to call me from your spaceship phone. As you count the stars and galaxies. As you count the beautiful friends surrounding you. And as you count the miles from home, I want you to smile and tell me, "Mom, I don't hate math."
