When I first met Left Brain I thought to myself, "Karen, this man is nothing like anyone you have ever met. For one thing he is brilliant, educated and you, my dear, are neither of those things. He is going to be bored with you and it isn't going to take long for him to get that way."
Left Brain, you see, is one of those people who not only went out and worked hard for his eduation, he LOVED getting the education. My son is very intelligent, super intelligent as a matter of fact, he obtained his education, but he hated the process. He did it because it was necessary. Left Brain not only pursued his educaiton but actually LOVED the process!
For myself, when I asked my mother about going to college (I had HUGE dreams of being a physical therapist, and truth be told, I'd have been a great one), she informed me that I had no business in college. That I'd not finish nor would I succeed. Yep, Mom always had "the love" for me. When I asked my dad about it, he said, "the only thing you'll find in college is your M R S degree, and you can do that without spending a lot of money." Yay Dad, way to encourage your kid.
I truly wanted to go to college, but as no one in my family had been to college, I actually knew NO ONE who had, and since the councelors at Belleville High School sucked at their job, I had no clue how to approach such a venture...I dropped that dream.
In retrospect I wish I had looked into it more closely. I love all things to do with medicine, seem to have a knack for remembering all manner of little details about anatomy, mechanics and biology of the human body. Not only that, I LOVE the process of learning about them.
I don't think I'm ignorant. Far from it. I think I am fairly well read, I try to keep up on current events, I love politics. I enjoy learning new artistic avenues to walk, knit, or paint down. I find however, that once I conquer something, I quickly bore of it. Such is the life of a right brained person. I do sometimes wonder how Left Brain puts up with me though. He has to be bored at times.
Left Brain says there is a difference between being educated and being smart. He feels I am smart, but just wasn't afforded the opportunity for more education. After thinking about that, he's quite right. I know I test high on intelligence tests, and love learning. I wonder what I could have done had I just had some encouragement and help.
All that being said, I don't even near his educational level and don't even try. He's smart. Wicked brilliant in fact. He would poo-poo that, but I know what I know, and I know that man is not only educated, but intelligent.
He will often go off on a tangent about something that fascinates him...I listen and sometimes I smile in understanding. Other times, however, I sit there and think about him as he talks. About how his brain works, about how it sorts information and presents it. It isn't that I am not interested in what he is saying as much as it is my intrigue at how such a man could find me, the under-educated, remotely interesting.
I used to do a little self-soothing on this topic by thinking "Heh, K...Einstein didn't marry someone brilliant and they did just fine." I did a little research though and upon learning that his first wife (Mileva) was the only female student physics major at the Polytechnic in Zurich...well, that blew that one out of the water. To learn that he married his second wife (Elsa) his cousin and that the main attraction to her...her cooking...ugh, not so comforting. That he also felt grateful to her because she had taken care of him when he was ill with stomach problems and that there was no passion between them...double ugh. No more self-soothing there.
But, Mr. Left Brain and Ms. Right Brain seem to get on ok. I poke him too much, I get too much enjoyment out of it, and don't even know why. I am trying to curb that a little. I try to keep us busy and life interesting, and with or without extra education, I think we do just fine :)
