Today on the *mumble*th anniversary of my birth, I break from my studies to reflect on one of the few good memories from math class.
I mentioned in my first post Algebra II brought me both a C and a good friend: +Betsy White , mathematical mind extraordinaire. She has umpteen places of pi wrapped around her office as a border, finds four leaf clovers with ease, and shares a love of froggy boots with my kid. She's taught calculus to high schoolers and currently teaches college engineering. I am green with envy at her ability to make sense of math problems with so many Greek letters I think they're actually directions to the Oracle of Delphi. Maybe they are and she's helping the math world keep it a secret from me.
Betsy and I already knew each other from marching band as fellow flute players, but we did not get off to a good start. Why? I don't remember. Even if I did, rehashing everything 15+ years later seems sort of tacky. Probably normal teenager/high school/"we're still learning who we are and screwing it up all over the place" type stuff. I can say that last one definitely applied me more than her. Actually that still holds pretty true for me.
*pause for introspective moment*
Betsy was a year behind me. Usually Algebra II is taken sophomore year. She had some sort of schedule snafu between first and second semester. Since she'd already taken (and I'm sure got an A in) Geometry, she wound up not only in my class but sitting right behind me in the Band Geek Corner of the classroom. Call it fate, divine intervention, a life lesson, but somehow it was Algebra II that made us close. Just as I don't remember the specifics of our initial feud, I also don't remember how that changed. That part should be revisited now. I hate that I forgot it. Metaphorically dragging me through the class by my hair definitely changed things. She burned the quadratic formula so deeply into my brain I remembered it until childbirth and parenthood wiped what little RAM I had left. I bet she carved it into the cheese of those Lance crackers she shared with me. All I know is we exited the class as friends despite the fact we were -- and still are -- pretty different people. Somewhere in that semester we found a way to understand one another.
We grew pretty close throughout my last two years of high school and stayed in touch into my junior year of college. And then we drifted. No catalyst, just life happening I guess. It didn't help I had recurring issues with depression and went down a hidey hole for several years. That's stuff for a different blog on a different day.
Three years and one day ago (I looked it up) we reconnected on Facebook. She still lives out of state but her parents are local to me. That summer we met for lunch. I won't speak for her, but I know on my end it was falling off a log. We were older, definitely smarter, debatably wiser, and while it took a bit to find our old rhythm it was still there. The then two year old that tagged along with me had a way of delaying things. Still does at five. Since then we've stayed in touch mostly through Facebook with a luncheon here and there when she's in town and our schedules mesh. Sadly they often don't. There's that real and complex life again.
I've been trying to wrap this post up for an hour with some deep insight wrapped in wit. It keeps eluding me so I'll end it sincerely. Thank you, Betsy, for both literally and figuratively prodding me through Algebra II. I got something besides a headache out of it after all.
Do you have anymore of those crackers?
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