Learning Something New

Vacation is over. Students returned to school today, my husband went back to work, and my phone rang at 6:00 a.m. with a request that I substitute at the high school. Some days I tell them I’m not available, but I don’t tell them that my only plan for the day is to watch “The View” at 10:00 and Oprah at 4:00. I tell them “no” just because I can…one of the little pleasures of retirement. This morning I said “yes,” probably because I’m experiencing buyer’s remorse after too much holiday shopping.

I spent the day subbing in a special education classroom. There were no lesson plans and because it was the first day back to school, the kids didn’t have work to do from other classes.

Today my simple pleasure was learning something new. I’m enjoying the process of blogging because it forces me to learn new things. I added widgets to my layout. What a thrill that I now have a map and a scrolling message on my blog page. I found links to these gizmos on http://avarchivesp4.blogspot.com/

I’m thankful to all those people out in cyberspace who have created the helpful sites that are letting me learn new skills.

My technology skills are limited, so I really feel a sense of accomplishment when I can magically make my words appear in cyberspace. I added a counter and discovered, wonder of wonders, people other than me have visited my blog! Okay, not a hoard of people, but it’s a start.

So what have I learned about what I’m supposed to do in retirement? I need to keep learning new things and continue to consciously enjoy those ah ha moments. It’s like finding my way in a maze. I don’t know which way the path will take me, but each meaningful experience takes me further to the goal…and just like a maze, I can’t see where I’m going! Thank goodness I’m taking the time to enjoy the journey.