The Triangle of Course

My daughter had to do an “All About Me” presentation at school.  Of course it was loaded with rocks.  We tumbled small rocks in the tumbler so that she could present each of her classmates with the gift of a polished rock.  As each child selected a stone, she identified it for them.  Rose quartz, fluorite, jade, jasper, moonstone, etc.

She showed pictures and objects as prescribed by the assignment on her poster board.  She talked about being born on Christmas Day.  And she did a small presentation of rocks.  There was hackmanite with tenebrescence.  She turned off the classroom lights and showed everyone how it glows eerily under ultraviolet light.  Wow!  There was a piece of willemite laden with zinc crystals which glows green under UV light.  It makes one feel as though it is from outer space!  And she shined a light through a piece of selenite.  Selenite conducts light much the way fiber optics do; and I am positive the science grew out of its study.  Last, she showed a river stone which we had painted together.  She painted hers to look like a frog, mine is a skunk.  It is a cute little guy, but I never thought it was anything special beyond the time we spent together. 

After the presentation, she was able to call on her friends who raised their hands.  They peppered her with unrelated questions.  One child asked her, “What is your favorite shape?”  Her immediate reply, “The triangle, of course”.  And this gave me great pause. 

I have never considered my favorite shape!  Do I have one?  What would it be?  What is my favorite shape?  And I had a small existential crisis.  I did geometry for a while looking for it.  I went back through notebooks and discovered I DON’T DOODLE.  I don’t even fill in the spaces in the letters like some of my colleagues do.  I do glance at pages and see every crooked line, every imbalance, every misspelled word, every error.  And it is like a secret joke to me.  I long ago squashed my need to perfect every page.  It only belittles and alienates those around me for whom I care so much.  With whom I feel so connected in myriad other ways.  Unless you ask, I will not tell you what is wrong with it, even if it is obvious to me.  I was hooked on two parallel lines for a while, but I decided they're not really a shape.  So for now, I have selected an infinity sign.  Eight that fell over is ok with me.

She came home with a pile of thank you cards.  The feedback from her friends was most articulate for children of that age.  What do you imagine impressed the children the most?  It was a 50-50 tie between the UV flashlight and the rock painted to look like a frog!