Making a Wave When We Can

I have a Master's Degree, four teaching certifications, and a list of professional development courses and workshops that goes on for pages and pages. A voracious reader, I consider myself a lifelong learner.

Nothing has taught me more in my 38 years than the boy about to turn six and the girl who just celebrated her fourth birthday at Disney Land. Everything else I ever learned fit inside a water bottle. My children teach me as much as the Pacific Ocean they love so much. It is tumultuous learning, fraught with frustration, and I fail all the time.

But I am a teacher, and I preach the value of failure, the merit of "discovery learning." I yammer on to anyone who will listen that lessons that stick present challenges, that nothing valuable comes easy.

So I'm trying to learn in concert from my kids and myself. I'm trying to value process. I'm trying to keep growing, and to keep going.

My brain cells don't multiply like they used; these synapses slow down sometimes. I miss the plasticity of my college mind. But much more rides on my knowledge acquisition these days. I am no longer learning for the sake of my future, but for theirs.

And so I keep plugging away, doing my homework, listening, learning. Trying to keep my head above water.