I am not technically an Odhner. By which I mean, my genetics do not include the mathematical prowess that comes with that heritage. I married into the name, but a surge in mental power did not arrive by association. 

 

My children are brainy, each in their own way. Lukas was the primary engineer on a project in Dublin for Riot Games that I have absolutely no understanding of, though it is incredibly fun to enjoy that he knows. 

 

Micah is a pilot, earning a steady stream of credentials for various sizes of aircrafts. which cruise at an altitude far above my comprehension. 

 

John had a conversation with our daughter Hosanna, discussing the Parallel Postulate. According to the Cliff Notes John gave me, this is a concept in geometry that mathematicians tried for thousands of years to prove. In the end they agreed that you simply, or not so simply, have to accept it as an assumption. It has to do with whether or not two lines can pierce a point and still sail alongside another line into the next millennium without ever crashing. This is of course all hypothetical. Not like the lines in my quilts that I take great pains to make parallel. 

 

Mercy and Zack write code in languages I cannot name, and solve problems I don't understand. But it is delightful to eavesdrop when they compare strategies. 

 

Chara and her husband design brands. Their fingerprints are on classy packages, websites, menus and letterhead, from small businesses to startups to multimillion dollar companies.

 

The twins are fluent in two languages, and making progress on a third. They have jumped through the aros and cerceaux of attending college in Europe, and understand linguistics at a level I can't see on my tippy toes. 

 

Even Ben has his intellectual surges. The other day he ran into a minister and remembered that he had helped him open a bag of cereal in church. On November 26, 2017. He also creates Venn Diagrams to sort categories of things like elephants and movie characters. 

 

Smarts can help you accrue the answers you are looking for. Yet there is also wiggle room for those assumptions. I may not have proof that John has my best interests in mind even if he forgets to do what I asked. But I can assume. Even though we sometimes crash into each other.