A Stroke of Genius

Some days I feel like a total imposter, faking my way through everything. Hoping my kids don’t discover that they can probably school me in a timed race of multiplication facts. Coaching courtside, praying they don’t ask me to demonstrate a lay-up. Wishing I wasn’t the only willing pitcher. And since poor pitching allows for little batting and fielding, the game is usually over before it begins.

But then there those occasional days when I feel like an absolute genius.

Today was such a day.

Our local radio station airs a daily trivia question that anyone with access to a search engine could answer correctly. Today, without the assistance of Google, we called with the correct answer and won a 2 liter bottle of Coke.

My kids think I’m a genius.

On the way to school we did a little home-school. Technically, it was probably car-school. In an attempt to stifle the nagging questions of why we don’t own all manner of motorized outdoor toys, I found myself lecturing on the concept of a home mortgage to my captive classroom. Surprisingly they listened with rapt attention. I suspect they were less interested in the 30 year pay-back and more fascinated by the fact that banks “give” people money. Unfortunately car-school ended before I got to the part about paying back with interest.

But on the upside, I sounded like a genius.

Later, during a fierce round of UNO I found myself explaining to my six-year-old why playing a wild-card on a green-card to “change” the color to green wasn’t a winning strategy. Though I thought my tidy explanation was a stroke of genius, it was without effect. He was oblivious, and we let him play his wild on green and change the color to green.

I let him feel like the genius.

As the supper hour drew near I was whipping up some soup that called for a pound of sliced mushrooms. Problem was I bought whole mushrooms. Slicing that many mushrooms would take far too long. My hungry brood was already clamoring for food and I was long past abandoning the meal plan. What was I to do?

And then, as if it was a revelation from God, I retrieved my egg slicer from the depths of the utensil drawer and sliced those mushrooms in under two minutes! Booyah!

I am a genius.

What’s your stroke of genius?