Workaholic Dad

Today, August 13th, is Left Handed Day – there is even an official website, but they apparently didn’t buy enough bandwith – I didn’t know until I was riding home from work and heard about it on the radio. I am left handed and for some bizarre reason I am really proud of it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t rub it in people’s face the first time I meet them, raving about it – but I quietly enjoy being just a little bit different than a good part of the population.

Being left handed is a weird experience – it is not like we can’t learn to live in a right-handed world, but certain things need some getting used to. Growing up I had the toughest time using a can opener!

The biggest issue however was writing with a fountain pen in elementary school. Pushing the pen ahead of the hand is ok, but the side of your hand will move across the paper, smudging the fresh ink.  Back in the day we where graded for neat handwriting. Needless to say I got an F every damn time. I guess nowadays there is so much pampering going on in the school system that that F would get a teacher sued for discrimination that wouldn’t be an issue. For me that F was motivation enough to find ways to improve my writing style. I had a special lefty fountain pen for a while, but ultimately ended up using a “normal” fountain pen – and low and behold, by 10th grade just before I switched to ball point pens, I managed to write a whole page without a single smudge.

I sit here wondering if the little one will turn out to be a lefty. Neither of my parents are lefties, but my grandfather on my mom’s side is. I think it would be cool if she was a lefty.

So, for all you fellow lefties out there – Happy Leftie Day, you’re in good company – check out these famous lefties.