I’ve lost lots of things in my life – keys, money, keepsakes.
I once lost the year I was 25.
During a casual conversation, a co-worker realized I was wrong about how old I was.
“You’re the same age as me,” she said. “You’re 25.”
Slowly, I realized she was absolutely correct.
I’m not good with numbers or math but, this time, I knew my math skills had to be part of my DNA because I’d made myself older instead of younger.
This deficiency is because I was born a right-brained person, more interested in the arts and creative thinking.
Right-brainers daydream, something I still do. Usually I’m saving the day because in daydreams, one can be Tarzan, Wonder Woman or Batman.
We right-brainers also have a rich imaginative life. I used to imagine I was graceful.
As a teenager, hours were spent in my bedroom walking back and forth on an imaginary line, pretending I was a gymnast like Olga Korbut who dominated gymnastics in the 1970s. This fantasy was to make up for the reality that I was a complete klutz.
My left-brained husband never spends a minute straightening out a closet because he always puts things where they belong unlike on the floor like me.
Said left-brained husband never finds himself questioning the extra hardware after putting together a shelf because he counted all of the nails and screws and compared them to the supply list before he started.
That’s opposite to his right-brained wife who dives in without reading the directions and then wonders why there’s three screws left over.
Both of us have recently picked up our cameras and are taking pictures for fun. We both enjoy nature photography, but we approach our hobbies quite differently.
I was showing him some pictures I’d taken at a park, and he asked me some technical questions about the images.
“What f-stop did you use,” he asked.
“Not a clue,” I replied
“What was your shutter speed,” he asked.
Same reply.
He started talking about the mathematical relationship of the aperture opening and the camera’s ISO and I started thinking about what I was going to cook for dinner.
It wasn’t that I didn’t care what he was talking about – I honestly didn’t understand most of what he was saying.
When I’m taking pictures, I’m looking at lighting and my subject.
I don’t look at the numbers on the back of the camera – just how the image shows up after I snap the shutter.
I look at the gas gauge on my car and, when the gas gauge points to the half-way mark, I top off the tank because I don’t want to run out of gas.
Left-brained people know how exactly many more miles they can drive before they have to stop and refuel. That’s because they read the car’s manual and know that function actually exists.
Left-brained people measure before they hang pictures on the wall and only leave one hole in the sheetrock.
We right-brainers eyeball where we want the picture to go and leave at least four holes in the wall before we find the right spot.
Left-brained people seldom forget their deodorant or socks at home when on vacation.
We right-brainers know a trip to the dollar store is in our future whenever we’re out of town.
We right-brained people often get lost, but we don’t get mad. We figure the detour is a chance to explore somewhere new, and we’re open to seeing something unexpected.
Besides, we get lost a lot.
Right-brained people drive left-brained people crazy because we’re unpredictable, impulsive and believe mistakes are a chance to try something new.
If we’re lucky, though, right-brained people appreciate the logic and calm left-brainers bring to our lives.
Life is all about balance and appreciating that sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone.
We right-brainers are walking examples that a wrong turn can actually become an adventure.
This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.