"My Guy Wears Khaki Pants"

After the shocking revelations from Meredith on that first day she told me she had pictures for everything (shocking because it was so different than how I think and that I never knew this about her), I HAD to tell someone about it.  Poor Tom--as soon as he got home from work I rushed him into our room and told him, "You're never going to believe this!  Meredith has pictures for every number and every word.  She keeps them all in filing cabinets in her mind and she has this little girl named Merebith who manages all of the files for her.  She wears a little school girl uniform and everything -- look at all these pictures she drew about it!"  Then comes the response out of left field from Tom:
                  
                    "I have a filing system...[long pause]...My guy wears khaki pants." 

Holy crap.  Seriously?  No.way.

Tom described his little guy (no name) as a geeky file clerk from the 1950s who wore the aforementioned khaki pants, a white shirt, and glasses.  Kind of Dilbert-like.  Tom described his filing cabinets as those old clunky, wooden filing cabinets with an insert in each drawer showing a letter typed with an old-fashioned typewriter.  Apparently the little guy also uses a big calculator whenever Tom does calculations.

That pretty much changed everthing.  It was clear that this was some form of thinking that was genetic and passed from Tom to Meredith.  I wasn't dealing with a totally unique child.  I was dealing with a unique FAMILY now!  How incredible--INCREDIBLE!--that neither Tom nor Meredith shared this with anyone (it was just how they thought, afterall...why would they think it was "different"), but independently had the very same manner of thinking...filing cabinets and little assistants.  The beauty of it was that Tom could basically translate things that Meredith was sharing with me and explain it in more detail.  But more than anything, Tom and Meredith would now forever have a special bond.

For me, I suddenly had a husband and a child that seemed foreign to me.  I had to learn their "language" and try to decipher how they were different from me and what things they shared together.  It was if I had to discover who they were all over again.  It was exciting, but a bit freightening at the same time.  It was a lot to take in to say the least.  I was happy for Tom because for the first time in his life, he had some explanation for things.  These discoveries would send our whole family on a journey--and our wheels are still on the road to a destination unknown.  One thing is for sure, however, we all understand each other a whole lot better than before.

The Treasure of Files

Merebith holds the key to the "Treasure of Files"

The "Treasure of Files" is where Merebith works. It is where Meredith stores all of her mental images and Merebith helps her to retrieve the files. From what she has described, Meredith has lots and lots of files and Merebith is VERY busy at her job. Meredith told me that sometimes Merebith works so hard, she has to pause, huffing and puffing away! I have heard Meredith describe files for each grade, files for vacation memories, files on people that contain words that describe that person in a font and color that she associates with that person--I'm white with orange heart polka dots, for example.

The day she told me this (the BIG discovery day), I was testing her with questions (because c'mon...how could she possibly do this?).  I asked her to tell me what was in the "A" file, and she started listing off her friends and classmates whose names started with the letter A. She looked up when she was telling me what she saw...I remember learning that you look up when you are accessing your memory. I asked her if she had a file on her principal, Ms. Hohmann, and she looked up, not responding right away. She kept looking and looking and then said, "Oh, there it is! It was misfiled under letter G." Whoa, I did not see that coming. I have come to understand that if Meredith doesn't have a file for something, she won't be able to remember it. That is why it is important to give visual learners the big picture, or some sort of context before teaching them something. They need to attach it to something. Dr. Florance taught me that the engine of the visual thinking pathway is the "Associator." Visual thinking works by association. It is not sequential or time-based...time is not the strong suit for visual thinkers!!! Anyone who lives with a strong visual thinker is keenly aware of this!