Life With My Granddaughter

This past Friday I spent much of the day packing away Christmas decorations.  My wife filled the bins and I carried them out to the storage shed.  It was a stark reminder that I am not as young as I used to be.  Even my wife is finally coming to the realization that we can’t continue to do everything that we’ve done in the past.  After a shower and a nap I drove to my granddaughter’s home to pick her up for the weekend.  She is a bundle of energy and a joy to be around.  My home is certainly a livelier place when she is there.  On Saturday we went to see a wonderful film called “Hidden Figures”.  Like all boys who grew up in the early 60’s I loved astronauts and found the events surrounding the first space travel exciting.  I used to have a poster on my bedroom wall of the original seven astronauts.  What I did not know until recently was that a group of brilliant African American female mathematicians played a huge part in the early successes of the space program.  This was before computers were part of our daily lives and very complex mathematical equations were done by hand on a chalkboard.  It is a very inspirational story that I highly recommend everyone see.  Keep in mind that these events occurred in the south during the early days of the civil rights movement.  On Sunday I took Chloe to her math tutoring.  While she was being tutored I was at a nearly Heine Brothers drinking coffee and eating a cinnamon streusel scone.  When I picked her up I asked, “Well, are you ready to become a mathematician at NASA”?   The answer was a big, fat NO!  I enjoy my one on one time with Chloe because we have some very deep and intellectual conversations.  She may struggle with math but she is informed and knowledgeable well beyond her years.  Prior to election day she was lecturing her father about Donald Trump.  He finally called my wife and said, “What the heck is Dad telling Chloe”?  Chloe thinks I am the only person that really understands her.  Her Dad and Granny are often on her case about one thing or another.  I am not.  When we are together she can discuss things that some adults can’t articulate.  She recently gave herself the Myers-Briggs Personality Test.  Guess what?  She came out with the same personality type as me.  Big surprise!  She even has my blog on her Smartphone and she actually reads my thoughts!  Chloe and I have had a close bond since the day she was born and I held her for the first time.  That seems so long ago….