Adults have different problems with multiplication. For example, divorce times backstabbing times sick child, times crazy boss, times stopped-up toilet equals chest-pounding tremors. Nobody prepares you for this kind of multiplication. When you lose the numbers you lose all kinds of certainty. For one thing, there’s no way to check your work. And no one wants to see your miserable little on-the-fly-process, except the doubt-mongers and second guessers.
It’s back to school time in my head, even though my last blue fabric-covered notebook was over forty years ago, even though my daughter takes an airplane to school and I kiss her good-bye once for the whole semester. Still, the school calendar calls the tune for me and so many others, etched into our [...]