I was sitting in my friend's car. We were talking about this and that. Suddenly she asked me if I know the shortest way home from where we were at that moment. I actually know where we were. We were a road away from Elizabeth's piano teacher's residence. But since she has been driving herself to piano lessons for at least two years, I cannot remember the way we normally drive home from there. But please note I was not lost, perhaps I would take a circuit around the entire housing area, I would be able to get home after burning a little extra gas.
She could relate to that. After all, when I encouraged her to take up driving again and buy herself a car to get around in, she claimed that she has the world's worst sense of direction. This is like two years later, she has come a long way. She gets around on her own. When she is not confident about going to certain places, she uses the GPS. After all, neither of us need to earn a living as taxi drivers. We can certainly survive pretty well with our limited sense of direction.
That was when she confessed that although she has lived in the same apartment for the past four years, she still knocks her shin or her elbow against her bedroom door frame. Now that was an interesting piece of information! I can't say I have the problem now. But for years and years I would have to contend with blue blacks (bruises) that I have no idea when I hurt myself. My deceased grandma used to laugh and say that I got pinched by ghosts in my dreams. No! I have no hematological problems. I see Elizabeth rubbing her unexplained bruises with Counterpain just two nights ago, it is almost a weekly event. If she is stressed and has a full schedule, it happens more often.
My husband, my brothers, my parents and Elizabeth's siblings do not have this problem. Since Elizabeth was seven, we have been having her friend, Cassandra, home with us often. Cassandra used to be much worse at that point of time, she knocked into furniture, door, cars, and even walls if the passage way is narrow. Over time Cassandra improved. I must ask her about this the next time I see her. Wonder if she is like Elizabeth, now and then having the same problem, or has gotten over it like me. Or Cassandra suffers it in a chronic way like my friend. I know it is not funny. But what can one do when she has this kind of funny problem, other than having a good laugh over it! I don't think anyone would go to the hospital and look up the relevant specialist over a mundane and non-threatening problem like this. I do know that it indicates that one part of the brain is not functioning as it should. Well! My friend is already in her forties. She actually earns very well teaching students weak in English. We both know that she has made a strong point out of her weaknesses. If she had not suffered in school over whatever difficulties over all subjects except English, she would not end up being such a good tutor to all types of students.
I am an armchair special education hobbyist. I think my friend, Cassandra, Elizabeth and I all display one specific symptom of dyslexia. I might have been blessed with a brain wired for the Chinese language, but I was and still is foolhardy enough to keep working on my shadow area(weakest subject). My friend has been taken for a fool by her beloved. She has been taken for a ride as well as he divorced her when she stopped obeying him and fought back. Cassandra is very blessed as her current boy friend (very first and hopefully they would marry) loves her enough to take over all cleaning duties. You see, her skin breaks up after coming into contact with detergent. I have skin almost as bad but it still tolerates certain brands after dilution. Elizabeth is having a whale of a time: she is shouldering a normal college load while juggling a few hats in church, she just signed up for a major role in the Christmas play that would entail many hours of practice. Boy friends are pretty far from the normal list of things on her mind.
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