No Entiendo

Understanding is such a fickle companion. She will elude your every grasp for time on end, only to overwhelm you with enlightenment in an instant. How often have I searched for understanding; I’ve studied and read, spoke with one who has met her, yet still found myself wanting?

In college, I struggled through a semester of Calculus III. Each day was a battle to understand what was being presented. After a very poor start, I slowly began to comprehend the logic behind the math. At the end of the year, we were asked to take all the tiny pieces of information that had eluded me and use them in one large problem. All of a sudden, it made sense . . . I could do it!

I have seen this battle taking place in Andrew’s life, too. For months, I would ask him, “What color is this?” Occasionally, he would guess right, but it was usually just that, a guess. “Yellow.” (More accurately, “Yeyyo.”) Patiently, I would correct him, “No, buddy, that’s blue.” Now he names the colors of cars as we walk through a parking lot. He remembers that an elephant is gray (and big and went in the water). He carefully considers the question, “Which M&M do you want, brown or blue?” before making a decision.

So I continue my battle with understanding, trying to learn what is best for my child(ren). Someday I will understand it all . . . yeah, when pigs fly.

And there is an example of understanding swooping down on you like a hawk upon its prey. Unseen and unexpected, I one day found myself understanding the statement, when pigs fly. We were driving down some country road past a piece of American heritage, a family farm. On the other side of a fence, a pig was running. Its large body was rocking back and forth like a teeter-teeter, head, tail, head, tail. Watching this comical sight, my eyes focused on the head. In the violence of the run, the pigs ears were flapping in unison, up, down, up, down. I an instant, understanding had found me. She had taken all doubt and wonder from me; left me with another kind of wonder . . . even in a simple and silly statement, understanding brings a sense of freedom. So that’s what they mean . . . . when pigs fly!

(As a brief aside and shameless self-promotion, here is a link to a story I wrote, titled Understanding.)