learning a thing or two
I cannot fathom how many hours I have invested into my education to date. I cannot even begin to imagine how to calculate such a number. It�s insane to me to think that I spent a straight five and a half hours working with two people that I�ve never met except for virtually. The time really flew by. My only complaints were how eye tired I became, and how my legs and thighs began to fall asleep under the weight of my typing hands. It was an experience and one that I hope to repeat a few more times before the end of our current course. I have made a new friend for sure. My teammate Don is a retired military guy who is permanently disabled due to the circumstances he experienced during war. He is now a full time stay at home father of a cute sounding 9 month old son Shiloh.
So often I am amazed at the learning capacity of my educational path and further than that I am often reminded of how blessed I am to come across some amazing people that will become lifelong acquaintances. Don and I have already in one weeks time spent hours working together and getting to know each other. He�s married so don�t even go there. I�m married so �yah whatever. It�s a mutual realization that we are two people working towards the same goal and helping each other be successful along with other�s in our assigned team. It�s a wonderful experience to be a student this way. It gets a bad wrap from those that just can�t get their fat heads thinking in a way that makes a big world become smaller so that people from different walks of life and continental area�s can come together to learn from each other. It�s great to say I have friends and know people in all sorts of industries, companies and walks of life because I have been and continue to be an online student. I am a strong proponent for learning through this modality because it inflicts limitations and obstacles and a strong sense of team building when faced with limitations.
I have been in bad groups and have overcome. I have been in good groups and prospered just the same. But today�this was an experience worth documenting my thoughts on all of it for the first time ever. Yes, this may be boring and uninspiring for some�but if you really think that you cannot do something�take that exact something and challenge yourself to overcome and do it.
Tonight while taking Chloe for a walk together I mentioned to Rick that I hoped we had accomplished our goal and get an A on this assignment together. He said something along the lines of �oh you will�you always get A�s.� It was odd to me because for so long I was NOT the A student. I was the dumb one growing up. My sister was the brilliant one and I was told to �be more like my sister�. To this day my sister and I are not alike. But�..something has drastically changed in my life now that someone supports my efforts and soothe�s my angst. I am an A student but honestly it�s because of 3 things.
Keith
Rick
Chloe
In that one second where Rick said I�d surely get an A because I always do�.I thought �yes this is the person he sees in me because this is the person I am able to be because of him.�
A powerful thought for me because he brings out only the good in me. He assumes it and does not question it or doubt that it just is�because of him it just is so. I know he doesn�t take credit for it or think that I am successful because of him�.but I know that without him I was a mess.
Sometimes in those moments when he describes me from his viewpoint I realize that I am that person he knows and the realization that I never was before throws me for a loop. It�s as if I have become someone new without even realizing at what interval I made that transition.
I was equally pleased to tell him I spent all those hours learning and writing about the economic world of household appliances. He stated, �so now you know the trends in the appliance world�. I think I�m making him smarter too. :-)
