Learning new things is (I pause) one of the most fulfilling aspects of being a human being; although I think that other animals also take great joy in having ahh haa moments.

There are some who simply see learning as being hoops that must be jumped through. Formal education deadens some. Informal education doesn’t deaden because learning related options never materialize.

Tonight I took Raudi running. I took treats – a cut up apple – and I gave pieces to her as we were going around the loop. What we were doing was more reinforcement than learning, but no matter. I enjoy being in the company of all my animals and I hope that they think similarly.

Right now I am in the mornings making a comparison between Celsius and Fahrenheit. I am going to ask Skye to teach me the formula. When I lived in Canada, everyone was in Centigrade mode, so I picked it up there. But when I got back to the states, I resumed using Fahrenheit’s thermometer.

I remember being in the 7th or 8th grade and being able to do the conversion. I am going to ask Skye to teach me how to do this again. Undoubtedly, I will this time around find it to be easier than I did back then.

Some might say, well, being in the twilight of your years, why attempt to learn new things? I never quite know what to say to this observation because they’re right – you can’t take what you learn with you when you die. But then again, maybe we do. We have no way of knowing.

We are the only animal that knows it’s going to die. At first, learning this is an initial shock. Then there is acceptance in part because there is the knowledge that there are so many years ahead. Then there is non acceptance because there is the knowledge that there are not that many years left or rather there are a finite number of years left.

I remember turning 24 and thinking that I had at least 50 years left and this was a good long time. I remember turning fifty and thinking that my life was now more than half over.

Now people my age are dying left and right. Today I was in the Pioneer’s Home in Palmer, restocking the shelves, and on the way out I passed the dining hall and I saw many, many really old people, and I thought two things: The first was that so many people together reminded me of being in college. Then young, these individuals were amongst peers. Now old they are amongst peers. My second thought was that it might not be so bad to live in the Pioneer Home – it could be like living in the dorms again. I didn’t do too well at getting along with my peers the first time I lived in the dorms, but I would do better the second time around because I am now wiser.

I’m still able to run with the horses, so I am not that bad off.