Physics

Physics

Noel Laflin

8-23-14

Scribbled notes and books are scattered across our old dining room table.  I grab one at random and try to decipher its meaning. 

As I am at a loss as to its origin, I consult the one whose handwriting I recognize.

“It’s physics, dad,” my daughter informs me.

“Oh,” I reply lamely.

The last time I had seen this much math spread across the old table was nearly a quarter century ago.  My scribbled equations from way back then were of a simpler form.  But, the math portion of the California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST), for which I was preparing to take, might as well have been the study of rocket science.  The reading and writing portions of the test did not concern me much.  Heck, I was a journalism major holding a minor degree in English.  However, the math portion was most definitely a worry as I had never gone beyond basic geometry, and that had been some twenty years prior. I barely scraped by with a passing grade, but it was enough at the time.

   

So this accounted for the rubble of crumpled math solutions back in the summer of 1990.  I relearned basic algebra and geometry and ventured fourth into the murky waters of calculus and trigonometry. My study guide flew across the room in fits of frustrated rage on more than one occasion, especially when it came to solving the age old riddle of two trains leaving Baltimore at the same time but traveling at different speeds.  Had the preparation of physics also been on the agenda, I am not sure if I would have survived the summer. I might well have broken another lamp too.

 

However, the kid is on a higher trajectory than the old man ever was as she has spent the better part of this summer preparing for the Medical College Admission Test – simply referred to as MCAT.  It is a worthy objective and one for which the girl is giving it her all.  Our small family unit is rooting for her.  We see the stress she is under, although she tries to hide it.  She would rather reflect a sunny disposition – remaining positive and upbeat even as the test date draws neigh.  There is less than a month to go and much to review obviously.  The single page of physics equations is but a trifle of what she has scribbled down thus far.  What we can’t see is what is being calculated in that beautiful brain of hers as she scrolls through page after page of illuminated text via her ever-present laptop, ear buds firmly wedged in place.  One has to stand close to her and motion, in order to break her attention span.  She is completely absorbed in her study.  It’s going to be a brutal fight to the end.

 

But, I am very proud of her, regardless of the outcome.

And, not once has she thrown the laptop across the room in a frustrated fit of rage. 

The study of physics has taught her that it would break no doubt.