No pigeonholes

On the other side of the wall, Sara has finally come to life. She's been like this wooden (or some days, granite) statue who just stood there and said, "I'm a nurse because I couldn't be a doctor." And I thought, yes, of course, that makes sense.

But in fact, it didn't. Sara isn't a nurse. She doesn't have the temperament to be a nurse. Neither do I. I don't have the temperament to be a doctor, either. I don't know if she does or not -- and we will never know -- because motherhood intervened.

So she's not a nurse. What is she? A Certified Public Accountant.

Go figure. Who'd a thunk it?

Certainly not me. But learning it made me smile because I thought, she's finally become real. By which I mean, she's finally unpredictable.

It's been that sort of day. I had conversations with half the world today (and got damn all done in the way of writing, but it was worth it). Two of the conversations I had were with a couple of my sons.

With one I was discussing methods of learning and in particular learning math. This was a boy who hated math. His eyes glazed over at the very thought. He quit taking it as soon as he could. And now he is doing long range financial analysis and commercial property analysis and learning the ins and outs of real estate tax law -- and loving it.

With the other son I had a conversation about computers. He has discovered they exist. Not only that, they have the potential to make his life more rewarding financially as well as more interesting. So he is building a website and compiling content and calling me up every few hours to tell me stuff that I should be doing with mine. And he's no doubt right.

And I rejoice in all of it -- my two sons and Sara and all the rest of the people in my life who do not fit neatly into pigeonholes of expectation, but who confound and amaze and delight me by proving that they are so much more and enjoy so much more and can do so much more than they (or I) ever imagined.

Love it when those walls come down!