In My Next Life

                We all have our addictions. Mine is checking the want ads looking for what I’ll be in my next life. Currently in the running are doing an animal act at the circus, being an ornithologist, and becoming an archer. (The employment opportunities may be limited on the latter.) But some days, I’m intrigued by the more mundane. Like recently, I saw this ad to work in the Continuing Education office at a college.  The job consisted of recruiting and assisting adults who were returning to college.

                I said to Bruce, “I could do that. I’m the poster child for returning to school as an adult.”

                To which Bruce answered, “You’re the poster old lady for returning to school as an adult.”

                Husbands! You got to love them, because the alternative involves jail sentences.

                I actually, for a brief moment last week, looked at degree programs wondering if it was time to go back to school. But looking through course requirements I realized I’d finally reached the age where going back to college has lost its appeal. It’s not that the memory isn’t what it used to be – although that’s true. Or that adult ADHD has taken hold and I just can’t hold one thought in my brain for that long. It’s that I’ve reached the age where I am no longer willing to have someone tell me what to do.

College involves requirements. And I no longer believe that what other people require is a necessity for me. At my age, when someone tells me what to do, I no longer jump to it with a smile. I’m practicing my baleful look, with a drippingly sarcastic, “You think so?” thrown in. Which is, I’m told, infinitely better than throwing things at people.

                But really – at some point in life it’s time to do what you want to do. Learn what you want to learn; the way you want to learn it; at the speed you want to learn. It’s called jumping through your own hoops.  

That’s where the library comes in. Libraries, since the beginning of time, have been about life-long learning. Life-long learning is fun. You get to control everything. Want to start a new business, learn to make cheese, write your memoir? You can find the information at the library. If one book is boring, try another one. Read it when you want to, where you want to (but remember no sand or water on the books!). Learn at your own pace, your own way.  At Burger King you can “have it your way.” At the library you can “learn it your way.”

I’ll let you in on a secret – when you are a life-long learner, if you aren’t totally enthralled with a book by the second chapter, the second page, or the second paragraph, you don’t have to finish it. At a certain age, you deserve to read what you want. And at the library, we’ll help you find it! So go ahead, take up dragon training. At the library you get to make your own curriculum.