The Future May Be Bright.

I thought we all needed a story to make us smile, or at least say wow. I don't often say wow, but I did this time. I may have told this story before, it was quite amazing to me.

My mother-in-law died unexpectedly a few months ago and my family drove 25 miles to her house to be with my father-in-law. It was a sad time. Sitting around and talking, my 15 year old daughter told me that when she gets upset, she likes to memorize numbers and she had memorized all the numbers on the street signs from our house to my FIL's house. I said "OK, what is the number?" She said 2194551155441319911731962325. I said "Wait a second," and pulled out my phone and put it on calculator. I asked for the number again and typed it as she said it. I screenshot it and asked her to repeat it a third time. She said it number for number. I was impressed she could learn it while on the road because she didn't have much time as we were driving.

Two days later after the funeral, I asked her if she remembered the number. She said yes and I pulled out my phone to look at the screen shot. She smiled as overconfident teenagers often do if to say "Of course" and said the number perfectly. I said, "Baby, that is pretty good, but if you really want to impress me, you'll say the number backwards." She told me the number backwards number for number and did not miss any of them. My wife and I were like "What? A 28 digit number backwards?" She is 15 years old and already doing things I could never do. I always wanted her to be better than I was, I just never expected her to do it at 15 years old. My sister, who was there and has a genius level IQ, was trying to figure out how she did it.

My daughter has been state and nationally recognized for her SAT and ACT scores when when she was 12 and 13 years old. I wanted her to go into medicine but she wants to be a lawyer. I can't beat her in an argument now so I think it is the right call. For the record, I am very good at arguing. She has skills like I have never seen and we are giving her every opportunity to be something special. Only time will tell.

Impressive, just like her dad

I think she takes after her mother. Fantastic!

That's awesome! Sounds like she's a smart one... Thanks for the story, it did make me smile!

WalkingbyFaith said...
Okay, now I'm really starting to understand why you are so revered on this forum. You're not smart. You're a genius in a family of geniuses!!! Cool.

When I give a speech or do any public speaking, I often catch the crowd off guard and they hear me say a lot of things they have never heard of and it makes me sound very intelligent. I explain to them that there is a very big difference between intelligence and knowledge. Intelligence is God given and refers to one's ability to process and rapidly acquire information and comprehend concepts. I know a lot of people that are more intelligent than I am. I'm above average but often not the most intelligent person in the room. Knowledge, unlike intelligence, depends more on effort and one's desire to learn. I don't know anyone who has more desire to learn than I do and very few put in the amount of time in independent study that I have.

The numbers genius part reminds me of my nephew who was discovered to be a possible numbers genius at four years old. Now at eleven, its pretty obvious that he is one of them.

He would do math before his parents go to the checkout register at five years old. Can / could recite many complicated numerical sets backwards on demand.

The - catch- he's also "autisic", (Dx'ed at about 6) but functional, blends in better with age (now 11).

He understands musical notes and plays piano very well with no training, but gets bored at it (no attention span). He sat down one day at a relatives home piano after watching and just did it. Does higher math for fun LOL (only 11).

Whats makes the few "autie" kids like him pick up on this stuff?

We've all seen kids like that on TV. There is no one way to measure intelligence. Many are in certain areas and lack in others. He has trouble putting thoughts into words more than others do, but numbers are his thing. At 11, his parents just let him do his thing. Math is fun and easy for him, so maybe that will work out well for him in adulthood, if the people/communication skills continue.

Post Edited (astroman) : 10/28/2017 10:32:59 AM (GMT-6)

Pirouette said...
Like Father, like Daughter.

The most important quality you have instilled in her is confidence. That will take her ANYWHERE.

(((Entirely unsolicited opinion: I seriously hope she finds her way to something other than law - it's often that the inspired spirit of young and brilliant minds like hers get dimmed with the nonsense that is "justice" in our country, what amounts to finding ways to work around the system, not achieve due justice. Can't recommend going into medicine in this mess, nor politics or public office, alt MDs are being picked off one-by-one, bankers are criminals, the system has turned educators into babysitters, ... My God, what what can you tell today's young people making career decisions???)))

Oh - sorry, this was supposed to be a happy thread. This is all on my mind - have been asked for advice from two people about this and I feel pressured to... lie.

-p

She wants to go into Constitutional Law. Not many jobs for that around here. She's already visited Virginia and Duke and she's goal oriented like me. She knows she'll have to be one of the best to clerk with a Justice or on a high level court.

Congrats to you GH & your wife for instilling a thirst for knowledge. We feel your beaming pride & share in it!

And who knows, maybe your daughter can help in the LD fight? (You & she are already super powers that could join forces with one such as Carl Tuttle?).

I think if Trump continues to deregulate and give more power to the states, everything will be fine. Too much government would be a cause for convention and we are going away from too much government.