The Eternal Student

I have always had a love for learning. Reading was a way of life at home and I learned early. Many of our family evenings and weekends included trips to the library - mainly because my father was going to night school and had to do research, but Mom and I were always getting books to read. When I was little, I wanted my own library card, but they wouldn't give me one because I could only print my name. I went home and demanded that Mom teach me cursive so I could sign my name and get my own library card - and I did.

I also remember my kindergarten teacher encouraging me to read, and come out of my shell a bit too. She got me a 3rd grade reading book, and I read a story to the class several times. I guess it is no great surprise that I majored in English when I went to college.

As an adult, I've "gone back to school" several times - learning computer programming, management, graduate school in Exploration Studies. Usually there was a specific work-related goal associated with the classes I took, but my main reason was to stretch my mind in different ways. Two years ago, I started back to school once again, to study biology/biotechnology.

Although I was enrolled for 2 classes in this spring semester, I had to withdraw because of Mom's illness, hospitalization, and continuing care. Now that all that activity has leveled off to a manageable amount, I find myself missing the stimulation of academic work.

An added incentive for studying and exercising my brain: my fibromyalgia. One of the hardest symptoms for me to deal with is the cognitive difficultes, commonly known as Fibro Fog. I know I'm not as sharp as I used to be, and I'll be damned if I will lose any more ability if I can possibly prevent it.

Earlier this week, I read an article about a research project on fibromyalgia patients. The indications were that fibromites lost gray matter in their brains at an unusually high rate - as if the normal effects of aging on the brain were very much accelerated. Well, fuck me!

So, I'm pursuing my tentative plans for the summer and fall semesters. I am taking an on-line class in Medical Terminology this summer, and in the Fall I'm signed up for my next Biology course with the teacher I wanted to get. She doesn't normally teach evening classes, but she is doing one in the fall.

If I'm losing brain cells, I'm gonna make the ones that are left work that much harder to make up for the loss!!!