Once upon a time, I had math with a Mr. Ledenev. I had a crush on the guy to my right and the moral support of the friend on my left.
Anything the two of them said took priority over math.
One day, Ledenev calls on me and I, of course, have no idea what he's asking.
"What?"
"Is 'what' your answer?"
"I didn't hear the question."
"You didn't 'hear'? Or you weren't 'listening'?"
So now I'm getting schooled in math and English by a Russian.
That that was sixteen years ago and I still remember it. The sad truth is that there are many moments in which people try to connect with me and I actively tune out; I think it amuses me to just nod and concur at the right moments.
I've missed more than I realized.
On Sunday, I kidnapped my mother until she taught me how to cook palava sauce, my favorite of all Liberian foods. Midway through the lesson, I remembered the thing I've been waiting to ask my mom for years, the thing I probably already know piecemeal by mental osmosis but was never really listening to.
"Mom, can you talk me through your family tree?"
Remember, I am 29.
It took an hour and four sheets of construction paper to cover the 116 years since her dad was born; that was as far back as she could go.
"....So then, as you know, my father was jailed..."
"Wait -- what?"
"Avril, I told you this."
"You tell me a lot of things! Tell me again."
"He founded an opposition party so the government locked him up."
"For how long?"
"A few years."
This is a man who held prominent positions as a lawyer and businessman and still managed to have 12 children with 7 women in 23 years.
Yeah. I'm still doing the math on that one. (I really should have been listening to Ledenev.)
Anything the two of them said took priority over math.
One day, Ledenev calls on me and I, of course, have no idea what he's asking.
"What?"
"Is 'what' your answer?"
"I didn't hear the question."
"You didn't 'hear'? Or you weren't 'listening'?"
So now I'm getting schooled in math and English by a Russian.
That that was sixteen years ago and I still remember it. The sad truth is that there are many moments in which people try to connect with me and I actively tune out; I think it amuses me to just nod and concur at the right moments.
I've missed more than I realized.
On Sunday, I kidnapped my mother until she taught me how to cook palava sauce, my favorite of all Liberian foods. Midway through the lesson, I remembered the thing I've been waiting to ask my mom for years, the thing I probably already know piecemeal by mental osmosis but was never really listening to.
"Mom, can you talk me through your family tree?"
Remember, I am 29.
It took an hour and four sheets of construction paper to cover the 116 years since her dad was born; that was as far back as she could go.
"....So then, as you know, my father was jailed..."
"Wait -- what?"
"Avril, I told you this."
"You tell me a lot of things! Tell me again."
"He founded an opposition party so the government locked him up."
"For how long?"
"A few years."
This is a man who held prominent positions as a lawyer and businessman and still managed to have 12 children with 7 women in 23 years.
Yeah. I'm still doing the math on that one. (I really should have been listening to Ledenev.)
2 comments:
Multi-tasking!
:) He aimed to please.
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