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The group text was perfectly timed between ending my day’s activities and beginning dinner. A friend in Atlanta sent a picture to me and a group of my high school friends. When I clicked on the texted picture, the song “Boogie Fever” began to fill my kitchen. It had been years since I’d heard the song, but the words came rushing back.

I wonder how many times I listened to a song before it entered the part of my brain that stored it for more than 40 years. That part of my brain not only houses songs from the 70s, but also the prologue to The Canterbury Tales that I had to memorize in high school. Unfortunately, nothing I learned in algebra found its way there.

I’m glad that my granddaughter Adeline loves math, but I don’t go near it with her. Second grade math is presented differently than when I taught, and I don’t want to confuse her. Those lessons are left to her teacher and her mother.

My only responsibility with Adeline’s education is to get her to school. We had a morning routine that I’m anxious to resume when school starts again – we prayed for her generation of cousins.

The commute is about one minute (two in traffic), and most of the time, even without traffic, she prayed twice. The scriptures are written on an index card that she keeps in the seat pocket.

She starts with Psalm 91:11“For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go,” then recites her cousins’ names. She then reads Psalm 5:12 “Lord, how wonderfully You bless the righteous; Your favor wraps around each one and covers them under your canopy of kindness and joy.”

Years from now, I hope Adeline remembers math, songs she enjoyed with her friends, and prayers she prayed for her generation.

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.