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　　“We expected our first child to be perfect．” Most parents have thought so．

　　I know that' s what I 　　1　　 with our oldest son, Joe．He would be perfect．Joe would sail through 　　2　　 from learning ABC' s to being awarded a Ph．D．

　　Joe, 　　3　　, had other ideas．

　　He was always a 　　4　　 kid．He wasn't the kind of boy who threw 　　5　　 at passing cars on a freezing winter day or who dropped water balloons on the mailman during the heat of August．

　　But he wasn't perfect．Especially when it came to that nice little 　　6　　 that I had about sailing through school．From the day Joe started kindergarten he struggled with scissors and handwriting and math．Always 　　7　　．He passed each grade with great 　　8　　, never at the top of his class．

　　How I 　　9　　 friends who had children with the "math gene"．A mom told me her daughter was doing high school algebra(代数)while in the sixth grade．Another mom said her son had just taken first place in the district' s annual Math Challenge．

After hearing these stories, I would look at Joe and 　　10　　：Why didn't we raise a mathematical talent? How is he ever going to get into 　　11　　 if he does not get better at math? Needless to say, my motherly 　　12　　 never really amounted to(总计)much．Does it ever? Moms tend to worry and worry, while whatever they' re worrying about usually 　　13　　 on its own．

　　During high school, Joe slowly 　　14　　 at math．He got through algebra I & II, and geometry, our state requirements for math．I felt greatly 　　15　　 at his little achievement．Then he announced that he' d take pre-calculus(微积分)in his last year of high school, which 　　16　　 me a lot．

　　"Why?" I questioned．

　　"Because I need to keep my skills up," he explained．" I 　　17　　 math, but I need to take it so I don' t forget how to do it．"

　　"For college, " he added．"I want to do really well in college, Mom．I know it will be 　　18　　, but I think it' s important that I try to do my best．"

　　My oldest son wasn't perfect．He wasn't a math talent, either．But he knew what was important：he was focusing on his 　　19　　 while I was worrying over his past．And that, to me, is even better than being 　　20　　．