This is Winnie. She is now considered an “aging pet” according to the groomer. As such, she fits into the “old dog” category. Apparently, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Trying to get her to STAY for a photo (I know, a basic doggie command) has me agreeing with that statement.
I can relate. I’m (gulp) aging a bit too. Learning new things doesn’t come so easily these days. As a former teacher (can you really be a ‘former’ teacher?), I has always been an advocate of learning. I was happy to learn just about anything: how to drive, what a 50% chance of precipitation really means, where the best places to snorkel in Aruba are, how can you get a high school athlete recruited, what it means to raise $10,000 in 6 months, and how to help a struggling learner learn better.
This year, as my children began to need me less and less, I was suddenly aware that I had free time. Free time? I needed to redefine that since it was nearly half my life ago that I saw it.
That half life ago occurred in college, where I also had a realization. I had just assumed great debt to acquire skills that would obsolete in less time than it took me to finish acquiring them. So why was it then that I was on this journey of higher learning? It came to me like a lightbulb overpowering my newly found college mind. I am not here merely to assimilate facts, formulas, and skills.
My purpose was to learn how to learn.
Though the years learning was a constant. As life morphs into a different version of itself, the survival of the fittest requires adapting. And learning. This year I took a giant step of fear… I mean faith. The truth is that it felt like a really scary step. I had to gather up all my courage to take it. The dusty backpack came down off the shelf, I clicked on Community Ed, and I registered for school.
So if you don’t hear from me for awhile, and the posts get a little more spread out, you’ll know where to find me. I’ll be sitting in sweats with laptop perched atop my actual lap, learning. Of course I’ll be writing. And reading. Then there will be the magazine editing. And website building.
Jump in with me. After the initial shock, the water is nice.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you
will be a great author. I will remember to bookmark your blog and will come back very soon. I want to encourage you to
ultimately continue your great work, have a nice afternoon!
Thanks oldest metropolis! I’m currently in the process of building this site, so forgive the mess. I hope you’ll come back and visit often!