Math {31 Days}
It was a cold, early morning and I was working at a drive-thru coffee stand in Bonanza, Oregon, population 350. I was 15 years old, it was my second day on the job and I was dutifully brewing coffee, turning on the heater, making sure espresso beans were in the grinder.
A farmer pulled up in his beat-up Honda, wearing good jeans and a clean ball cap, obviously headed for an early morning run to town instead of a day in the fields. He ordered two 16-oz mochas and a cookie, and waited patiently while I ground beans and frothed milk, chatting kindly with me. As I carefully placed the lids on the drinks, I realized that I had to add up a total for his order. I hated math, I’d never been good at it and I’d always feared being put on the spot. Well, this was a spot alright, and I was teetering atop it as my kindly customer fumbled with his billfold and looked expectantly at me. The coffeeshop’s owner had left a calculator in the stand but I wasn’t sure where it was, time was running out and I felt my face grow hot. I blurted out, “that’ll be $6.50, sir” and made change out of the ten-dollar bill he handed me, giving him his $3.50 in change with the shaky-handed assurance of an unconfident banker. I added up his order again as he drove away, and was pleased to realize that I had indeed done the math correctly, and even given him the right change.
After that, I started to trust myself with numbers, realizing that they weren’t as scary when they paid for simple things like coffee and cookies.
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During construction at home, I learned in a similar way. If you have a 12-foot board and you need a seven-foot board, how much should you cut off? Well, five feet, I would think, pulling my metal tape measure over thick, hairy pinewood. How many inches in five feet? 5 x 12 = 60. 60 inches. Yes, that’s right. The skilsaw revs, my pencil marks emblazon the wood, a board is cut.
Boards are cut, they fit together like puzzle pieces, they form a wall, a roof, a room, a shop, a house. Numbers aren’t as scary when you’re building something valuable, when they’re being used to make a life.
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Now, I use numbers in my business, to see if this whole “writing for a living” thing is working out or not. My awesome husband always believes in me but we do the figures just the same, and are pleased to see profits instead of losses.
See, I think to myself, this isn’t so bad. Numbers and math show that words matter after all. I think that’s a good use for them.