Savant

I am an idiot savant.

I am the person who can't figure out most of the uses for a cellphone and wouldn't know how to use an iphone if I was given a manual and a month. I can't really cut a bagel because I haven't mastered the art of slicing away from my wrists. I would need to take a course to be able to remove a key off a key chain. Trying to uncork a bottle of wine remains one of the mysteries of the world.

The simple tasks that I am unable to accomplish would fill the pages of a large notebook

Yet last night, presented with a mathematical challenge that had stumped multitudes, I found the solution to be crystal clear.

We all get hundreds of e-mails we immediately delete. It seems like half our time is spent hitting the trash this communication button. The forward from my friend would have found a quick grave, but for the fact that he and I spent part of last evening together. He told me that I had to look at this problem that would keep me up all night.

Fifteen seconds after I opened the email, I was on the phone with him. I have it solved, I told him. I explained the predicate for the 'trick', but was informed that I must follow the problem to the 'next screen'. This screen made it appear that the computer could read minds.

After trying 2 or 3 permutations, the answer appeared in front of my eyes. It was like the scene in "A Beautiful Mind" where the hidden codes arise from the pages of the newspaper to be viewed by the insane professor. There was no magic in my computer, just simple mathematical manipulation.

How could a 3 year old not see the clues? What was it in the brains of all the others that didn't allow them to follow a path that had been so obvious?

Last weekend we were at a 'black tie' wedding. The routine in our household whenever I have to try to dress myself in formal attire is for Joanne to come over to me and assist me in putting on my cuff links. I don't know how one could be expected to master such an intricate art form.

There are clearly parts of my brain that have long laid dormant, while others remain active. One day I would like these parts to meet and strike up a conversation.That would be worth the price of admission.