Page 30 - The Exceptional Harley Fetterman

JUDY K JOHNSON

going on in the back seat. Leaning in close to Harley, she would
inevitably discover that he was grinning from ear to ear right back at
her. He seemed proud to have motivated such a concerned reaction
from mom just as if he had just won some on-going challenge.

The first big family vacation was to an all-inclusive resort in
Cancun, Mexico when Harley was about eighteen months old. They
all swam together in the Caribbean Sea and tracked on foot through
the jungle surrounded Mayan ruins at Tulum. Harley was most
impressed, however, by his own precocious adventure of ceremonially
throwing one fistful of soft sand after the other toward the ocean
waves rolling towards him on the tropical beach.

When Harley was old enough to enjoy fast food with his parents,
he joined the family's Whataburger tradition/addiction when dining
out. Often traveling in the car offered a predictably cheerful Harley
the pleasant possibility of turning into a Whataburger along the way.
His preferred meal of choice was a small order of four chicken strips
(with ketchup for dipping) just as Beth continued to enjoy the
traditional Whataburger. (Kevin remained flexible in his choices.)

When they placed their order at Whataburger, the food attendant
would hand them an orange plastic order number to place on their
table so they could be found when their order was ready. It was quite
clear that Harley had inherited Beth's love of mathematics and already
loved to study and recite all numbers in sight. Beth would quiz Harley
on their number which he would quickly call out. If their number was
32, Beth would go on to ask how much three plus two equaled, then
how much three minus two equaled. By the age of four, Harley was
also able to figure out how much three times two equaled. Aside from
being Whataburger fans for the fast food menu, Harley and Beth
enjoyed their number games while waiting for their order. Before
long, they even included equations that resulted in negative numbers.
When Harley entered Kindergarten, he already understood the
concept of negative numbers such as two minus three.

Harley loved to explore everywhere as fast as he could possibly
manage to get there. He even learned to ride a bike with training
wheels at three years of age—training wheels were off by four!
Harley was in a real hurry to see the world.

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