Are you good with numbers?

                                                                            

Happy November! 

Welcome to the month of my birth. No big rush but you have 10 shopping days to get me something special. Most anything will be fine.

Age...we are told...is just a number. But what's my number? I'm not sure. I'm horrible at keeping track of the correct number of most anything. Rarely, but sometimes this can work to my advantage. Like in the case of my age. You see, my current age is 1 year less than I thought. I've been thinking and telling myself, and even others around me, I am a year older than I actually am. Why would any sane woman do such as that? 

Well, not a more-sane math-minded woman for sure. It doesn't make sense but to explain I'm not good with numbers. Even the personal ones that affect me personally.

For most of the past year, I thought I was 66. Nope. I'm a young 65. I will be turning 66 in 10 days. There I said it. I just gained back a year of my life! Wouldn't it be great if it were that easy for all of us?

It took my math-minded man to set me straight. He has to do that often. It was puzzling for both of us how I could miss calculate my age when my birth year provides the simplest of numbers with which to calculate - 1960. Who can't add or subtract from a derivative of 10? Evidently, not me.

I recently got invited to a friend's surprise birthday party. He was turning 65. My immediate response was, wow he's old! Poor guy. Then it hit me. I'm older than him! Just not as old as I thought I was.

Also, please don't ask me the age of my three sons. It's not nice to put me on the spot like that. I'm not sure. I can get pretty close and give you an educated guess. Is giving you a range an acceptable answer? I could lie and pretend I know because you would never know. That wouldn't be honest, so I won't. I do at least get the number three right.

The age of my grandkids can be especially challenging. You see there are seven of them. I do at least get the number seven right. They are stair steps so asking their age is asking a lot. Is giving you their age range of 8 to 1 an acceptable answer? Remember, I'm lately liking ranges. This relieves me of the pressure to perform precisely. To come up with 7 accurate ages on the spot. Let's see. Has she had her birthday yet? Did I add 1 and carry over on his last birthday? 

I'm especially nervous when they get to double digits. How will this grandma survive? Oh my and a watch out warning to me. My math problem will be raised to a higher power and will turn into higher math! Maybe I'll walk on higher ground by then.

Thankfully we don't have to remember phone numbers any longer. This would put me into a perpetual pickle. Remember when we did? It was a tall task. Now, if something happened to our phones, it would be a colossal catastrophe! It would be a momentous mountain to climb reaching out to all those contacts so we can continue to make contact. Don't know my sons' numbers. My mother's. My anybody's. Not good. Better get to memorizing. That's another tall task these days.

Not much hope my memorizing skills are any better than my math. Maybe getting out a notebook to at least write down the important numbers would be a prudent idea. You with me?  Maybe you and I should get to that not-too-tall task right about now...

How are you with numbers? Can you relate to my personal issue? Is it yours too? Should we start a support group? Get a support animal? Could it be I'm actually smart with numbers after all but conveniently forget my age as a self-protecting mechanism? Probably not. I must face the facts. Adapt accordingly. Let me know if my struggle is real. Can you relate to being math mediocre? Misery loves company, as you know. So please comment below.

Numbers tend 

to tax my brain.

Too much to count

drives me insane.