Saturday, December 29, 2007

It's a funny thing about heredity: sometimes your kids get these amazing gifts and you have no idea where they came from. Or they have this magnification of some small gift one of the parents had. For example, Daughter #1.

I have a little bit of talent in writing. I can spell everything correctly, and usually put in all the correct forms of grammar, etc. I love listening to stories, and can tell stories, but just basically. Daughter #1 can do all the spelling and grammarring, but when she tells a story, you are CAPTIVATED! Not just by the story, but by the words and phrases she chooses. She can capture a character such that you can see that person in your mind, and you know them! As her stories unfold, you hang on every sentence. So where did THAT come from, I wonder?

I am also pretty social. I can understand what people are saying behind what they are actually saying. I can keep people from getting mad at me. Usually. But Daughter #2 is amazing. She can tell what people WANT to hear, and she'll tell them that (if it's true), or she'll throw the truth in their face in a manner that does not offend them! She has more friends than would fit in a black book, and she went to every dance in high school.

Handsome Husband is very good at math. He can calculate mortage payments in his head!! Small Son looks to be the same way, although he doesn't even know what a mortgage is. We only have to explain a mathematical concept to him one time, and he gets it. He can do multiplication in his head, not even having been taught it at school. It makes me green with envy!! Addition and subtraction are cake. He can figure out story problems without any problem. He is amazing.

I'm still waiting to find out what Daughter #3's talent is.

Genetic recombination is mind-boggling. With just 4 proteins, billions of different people have been created, and billions more are on the way. Same with pipes: with just 9 notes, millions of tunes have been created and more are on tap. I guess cuz it's human brainpower behind the tunes, we haven't gotten to the extreme numbers that tyrosein, cytosein, glycine, and the other one (whose name I've forgotten. Leucine?) have got to.

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