Dear Grandad, In school our teacher teaches us maths and we learn about numbers and if you want to put them together you plus them with a thing like this + .
Like if you want to put 2 and 3 together you do 2+3 and that makes 5, if you get it right.
It’s like if you plus us all together it’s a family, like you + me + Mamaw + Mom + Daddy + my brother + my sister and my aunts and my uncles and my cousins and Buddy the dog= family.
And we learn in maths how you can minus a number. Minus is when you do this – . If you want to minus 5 from 9 here is how it goes 9-5 = 4.
And that’s like when you come see us and then you go home, like family-Grandad – Mamaw, and that = sad at our house.
And we are going to do division and multiplication but our teacher says next year.
Yesterday in maths she told us about this ∞. And it’s not two zeroes and it’s not a propeller and it’s not two doughnuts.
Do you know what it is? It’s affinity! And it is a lot.
They’ve been looking everywhere for the number , but they haven’t found it yet because it is so big, so they do that funny shape. Some of the people who discovered affinity don’t even understand it . But I do!
It’s more than all the candy and all the ice cream and all the macaroni and cheese and peanut butter in the whole world. And more!
I know what it is – it’s how much you love me and how many times you hug me and kiss me and that’s how I explained it to my teacher. She said I was right.
Grandad, affinity is a lot and it’s a long long time and it’s forever,
But more than that and past forever I love you, ∞ + 1.
Love +1, Your Grandaughter, Mary Rose
Copyright GM ©
You are very blessed Guy.
Very blessed and loved!
Affinity plus eternity (in Hades) is longer than a New England winter and warmer than a Sahara summer.
BTW, Loved the article.
The affinity symbol used to be the “infinity” symbol for the infinite God. Without God even infinity is corrupt.
Getting LOVE from a child is infinity and affinity, that is relationship. So, all things relative must be persons, not values.
Thanks, Guy, that was a fine piece. Did your grandaughter write it? If not, you have a career ahead of you in children’s books. BTW, St. Augustine said God is greater than infinity. See “Mathematics the Handmaiden of Theology: Augustine and Cantor” at
http://rationalcatholic.blogspot.com/2012/05/mathematics-handmaiden-of-theology.html
Forgive the shameless plug, but it is relevant.
One of the best posts ever. Tnx.
Guy, What a sweet, thoughtful, loving child Mary Rose is. May she keep her childhood innocence for a long time. Thank you; made my day. -CAM
PS Just wondering is she 3rd grade, 4th? In public, parochial or home schooled.? No daughters or grandchildren here.
Full disclosure: One of my granddaughters did indeed reply “I love you, Grandad, infinity plus one,” when I once told her I loved her infinity. When she said that the first time, I was stunned. A gift from God, from her. Her real name is Gina Elizabeth. She is of course beyond beauty. She did tell me re her “maths” class back when she lived as a little girl in Scotland (where she was born). The rest is my story. I so appreciate all the comments – many thanks. So, CAM, it is basically true, she was in lower grade school at the bottom of the hill, Winnie Brae, where she lived in Broughty Ferry outside Dundee when this occurred. Now she is a teenager, and she is going to get upset when she reads this. But this is what Grandads do. Guy
Guy, Re Full disclosure: Here I was thinking Mary Rose aka Gina Elizabeth was a yellow rose of Texas. Instead she’s a bonnie lassie.
“I love you, Grandad, infinity plus one,” It is still a great post with the math sequences because that is the way young children with information learned or observed logically come to conclusions and express themselves.
My mid 30s son’s ( I in Odessa, 1 in San Francisco) end their late evening texts to me, “I love you, Mom.” When cleaning out my texts I have a hard time deleting those.
“When cleaning out my texts I have a hard time deleting those.” Save them in a folder. no space used
Mary De Voe, Thank you! It also reminds me that I need to send them more notes and cards in the mail.
CAM “It also reminds me that I need to send them more notes and cards in the mail.” Me too. It is fun to get mail.
This is very serious.
A request for prayer from Ashley Kavanaugh
https://www.romancatholicman.com/urgent-request-from-judge-kavanaughs-wife-ashley/
Thank you Mary De Voe.
I hope folks take this seriously as well.
Rosary rally Sunday at 4pm.
Rosary Coast to Coast.
RosaryCoasttoCoast.com
God bless you Mary!
Confirmation vote could be Saturday!
Our Lady Queen of the Holy Rosary please pray for U.S.
Rosaries, Rosaries, Rosaries