A Comment I Want to Share

In my last blog I wrote about Miguel going back to school. The people who wrote comments were overwhelmingly supportive and positive, and I shared all the comments with Miguel. Thanks to each and every one of you for the encouragement. It is not easy to admit that one has not completed school, but unfortunately it is not that uncommon here. I know of people who cannot even read (one man sells foods in the streets and although he can't read, he knows his math - how much he should get for his goods). Uneducated does not mean unintelligent, as those of you who commented certainly recognize.

I would like to highlight one comment because it touched me and made me laugh. Not everyone reads the comments posted to a blog, and I don't want this comment to be lost in space - it needs to be shared. Here is what Barbara in Jalisco wrote:

"at about age 35 i decided i wanted to go to college. i packed up my 10-year-old son and the few things that would fit into my little Honda Civic, and off we went from New Orleans to Indiana, where i enrolled as a freshman at Indiana University in Bloomington.

five years later (i had to take a year off to establish residency), i graduated with a B.G.S. (bachelor's degree in general studies -- i still couldn't make up my mind what i wanted to be when i grew up). i was asked to speak at one of the functions held for graduates after the ceremony. i said i felt like the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"....i wasn't sure i was any smarter, but i had a piece of paper now that said i was.

however, i would not trade the experience for the world....even though i'm STILL paying off students loans from graduate school. (yes, i continued on, working on my doctorate in anthropology.) so Miguel, more power to you! learn for the love of learning! learn more about things you already know something about, and learn new things about areas where you don't know much. (for me, that included Shakespeare, art appreciation, and physical anthropology.)

and, Sue, as to what i learned in high school that is still with me after all these years (i'll be 62 in a couple of months), i can still recite my whole name backwards....which is all i learned in geometry and which, i feel certain, is one reason i never married and changed my name. (no, it wasn't taught in the classroom, i just sat in the back next to a friend and that's what we did.)

best of luck on your adventure, Miguel! and have fun!

barbara in jalisco (or arabrab to those in the know)"

To Barbara - Congratulations on going the distance and raising a child at the same time. My sister did something similar and I know it was not easy. But you did it! Thanks for sharing your story with us.

Now - how many of you readers can recite your name backwards? I sort of remember learning how to write backwards, or upside-down, or trying to say my name in pig-latin, but one of my biggest talents is actually being able to pick up stuff with my toes - like a wad of kleenex that was intended for the garbage. I spread my toes and pick up the kleenex and toss it in the garbage - saves the back muscles.

Anyone else care to share unusual things they learned in school or unusual talents?