Coincidence?

When we met with Dr Ruf, she said her book was almost entitled "A Nation of Geniuses," and I'm thinking it would have been very true. 

"In this life, there are very few coincidences" ~ from the 39 Clues Cahills vs Vespers, but I don't remember which one right now.  We were told how rare our daughter is in so many ways, and from various angles, but I'm beginning to think she's more common than we thought.  She is one-of-a-kind, as all of God's children are, but . . .  I was in a conversation at a local swim school recently with two other women.  One of them was a highly gifted child not so long ago, and the other one has a highly gifted son.  Out of three random people, that doesn't seem like coincidence.  We hired a man to help us with a home repair, and got his name from an old friend.  As my daughter talked his ear off and asked a bunch of questions, the topic of giftedness came up.  He has a son who is twice exceptional, as well (gifted with a learning/behavioral challenge).  I had never met any of these people before, but happened upon them . . . outside of the giftedness circles we are starting to find.  I simply don't believe it's extremely rare.

Some people have told me that their children were IQ tested as a part of consultation for other things.  Most often, it involves behavioral challenges, but not every time.  This doesn't convince me.  I have met many people who had psychiatrists or even pediatric psychiatrists test their kids falsely low on IQ.  The problem is that gifted kids actually think differently in process from other kids, and it can come out in ways that are misundertstood by people who don't specialize in that area.  I know of too many cases where kids were later tested with much higher scores when they found a specialist that understood their thought process.

What about people who will never understand multi-variable calculus, in-depth literary analysis, scientific research, or other areas that are considered gifted spheres?  I believe many of those people are also highly gifted, even if the label doesn't fit them precisely.  I'm recalling a Reba song lyric from "God's Will."  "I never got to tell her that the boy showed me the truth.  In crayon red on notebook paper, he'd written me and God love you."  We can learn so much from all people, if we are only willing to see it.

It saddens me that kids in any sphere, or adults, are misunderstood.  I pray they will realize the rich experience of being understood and appreciated.  I also want to capture the messages they have to tell me.  When people are misunderstood, I fear important things get lost or missed . . .

I don't mean to sound depressed.  Part of our prioritizing decisions includes me making homeschooling M my full-time occupation.  This Spring has been especially chaotic as I continued my work while homeschooling.  If she were going to a school in the Fall, my thought was that I wanted to have my work continue through the other life transitions.  Now that we have decided to homeschool longer, I have given notice.  While parts of my contemplation make me sad, I am profoundly grateful to have time to contemplate them.  I hope to soak up as much of the wonderful time with my daughter as I can, and am grateful that we are in a position to make this change.  There are many right answers.  This is our right answer for now.