Tuesday @ Ten - LEARN

Believe it or not - and since I just completed last week's post last night! - I guess it is believable ... that it's time to link up with Karen once again for our Tuesday @ Ten posts!

Luckily we have a whole week to write our post for this link-up...most weeks I screech in at the last minute!  Wonder if I can get it done earlier this week??




The prompt for this week is Learn:


Seems I've been "learning" all my life!

While in school, it didn't seem to be that important, though now I know it was; but I was still learning.

I wasn't a bad student; perhaps an average one?  I failed a couple of classes in tenth grade, which, in my days, was the first year of high school:

• French - it isn't the same in school as it is when you are "living among the French", which we did when I was in Kindergarten;
• Biology - not my "cup of tea"; I really did not like that subject at all!
• Algebra (well, almost failed!); we were graded on a curve because we had so many different teachers during the school year.  That saved me from failing that class, and the whole grade level!

Yeah, I guess maybe not average?!

But, I was still learning!

I remember learning in Math class what a Social Security number was and how many digits they had.  I remember learning how to putt - both in golf and mini-golf (putt-putt)...imagine going to play putt-putt after a few classes of golf!

Knocked that ball clear across the highway - a four-lane highway at that!

I learned who my friends were, and they didn't have to be the most popular students in the school; though I had a few of those, too...the ones who didn't mind having friends who weren't the most popular!

I learned that I didn't want to stay in school any longer once I graduated; yet, I didn't want to work in retail, as I was doing for awhile during high school.

I continued my learning at a business school, studying the computer - back then, mostly males were in that field!  Not sure how much I learned about the computer; but I learned a lot about the types of guys I enjoyed dating!  I also learned typing, on an "old" electric typewriter, and accounting.

It was at this time I found my place in the work force...I loved typing and accounting, the clerical field was for me.

Fast forward to later, after I entered that work force...

I never stopped learning!  No matter what field I worked in - banking, insurance, retail - I continued to learn.  I would take any and all courses offered through the company, and learn as much as I could.

I also took a few classes at our community college; continuing to learn more, yet...

I never earned any "degrees"; didn't graduate from business school or college.

I did earn a few certificates for completing some of the courses I took through my work.  I felt proud of what I accomplished, much of it while working full time and raising my family.

During my years in the work force, I also learned I did not want to be a manager or supervisor!  I did not want to be "in charge" of others, supervising their work.  I have always been a good team player, working well with others, learning from and teaching each other.  I just did not want to be responsible for what others did (or did not do), or for hiring, firing or evaluating them.

Now that I am retired, my learning has come to an end ...

Of course that is not a true statement!  I continue to learn every day...though it may not be book-learning, or the types of studies learned in school, it is still learning.

I have learned the "art" of scrapbooking and card making.  I have learned the "art" of writing, blogging.

I have learned that I am a caregiver; and am learning every day how to be a caregiver!  I have learned that I am a writer...though an amateur one; nothing earth-shattering here...just some posts about my life.

I have to keep learning how to be the person that I am, because I sometimes feel I have lost that person in the responsibilities of being a wife, and a mother, and a caregiver.

So, before I find myself too old to learn anything new, I think I want to find more things to learn...

Like, that new technique I learned at a card-making class the other day!  I had seen a few cards with the "accordion" or "drapery" fold and was excited when I learned one of the cards used this technique:

And, most important, I want to learn how to really dig into the Bible and the devotions I read each morning, and write how I feel the words relate to me instead of quoting what I read!

I want to learn what it is that I am suppose to do - for God, for my family, for me!

Mostly, at this stage in my life, I want to learn to "slow down" and enjoy my family and friends; to enjoy the things I enjoy doing!  One day I'll look back on this life and wonder if I've done everything I wanted needed to do...

So, in all of the learning in life, be sure you do slow down.  As seen in this video, time can get away from you:

"Slow Down"

by Nicole Nordeman

Yes, learning is a lifetime thing!  Because even if we feel we aren't learning any longer, there are still things that we didn't know yesterday that we learn today or tomorrow!

So, as Glinda told Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz"...