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(People became such a humorous pass-time. They have no idea). I'd sit down without the intension of writing a thing and would come up with stories and poetry my family wanted to read over and over again. Even writing this now I'm remembering my developed thought. I was a writer, and I knew it. My mother was amazed with this ability. But was not amazed at my desire or lack thereof to be a genius child.

I was fascinated and even proud when she'd give me a math equation from another academic level and I'd get it right. Or some analogy question or essay question and how I answered it with what limited experience or knowledge I had. But after answering a couple of questions correctly and a natural inquisition of whether it was a natural ability or guessing, led to "playtime" being bombarded with college text books, pens, pencils and math books. Math was what headed me off the path of academia. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a bad student. Just passively lazy. I did enough to keep my head above water, without any effort. She had my IQ tested when a teacher tried to say I was behind academically and had a learning disability. She just thought I was too quiet for a seven year old. My reading score turned out to show my reading comprehension skill was that of a sixth grader. My math scores were average, nothing extravagant. Of course my mother felt that I held back on that. Not to blame her, I suggest that maybe I did. I don't know, just throwing this out there, but if, when I asked for help on math questions, instead of her going back and forth with me that I knew the answer and that I would obtain that answer if I just read I could teach myself and "Come on! You know it if you just try! You're not trying!" On top of not really wanting to do itI wouldn't have gotten so frustrated that I stopped trying just to prove a point (an option I feel I was driven to at the time). Maybe I would have known a little more than I did.

Anyway, it disappointed her. Also, myself. I didn't like disappointing her. But it sure did give me a break. I developed a disdain, dislike and shame for being wrong though, which in my eyes was failing. I did well in class as far as class work, but developed an anxiety towards anything that had the possibility of showing, potentially how smart I was not, against how smart (if you ask me) I was. All that to say, if you know anyone hiring, please inform me. Also, now that I've realized this habit (fear and giving up) and its possible source, there is no excuse for me to not master, even at my age, fractions.

Learn more about this author, Charline Mccray.
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