What's not to love about learning? It's not just for our kids, and as the adage says, "You're never too old to learn something new." As a society, we’re living longer, and with that comes the opportunity to explore interests we may have needed more time for in our youth.

Have you wanted to play the piano, write a novel, paint, ballroom dance, or cook? There are classes for everything, everyone, and at every level for all of the above! What a novelty to take courses in things we genuinely want to learn about. Throughout our youth, we had to take required classes, rather than what we were interested in. Once in college, the classes were more major-focused, except for, yet again, the required courses.

Reliving the education system with our kids puts things in a different perspective. Michael and I often commented on the “why” for certain classes required in the curriculum. Let's ask ourselves, “How much do you remember from the classes you didn’t choose to take but had to take?”

I, for one, can solemnly swear—nothing. Not that I didn't derive some interest in learning about things I didn't know, but I wasn't passionate about them, which made them even more unappealing.

Seeing our boys picking classes for their college major, knowing that they are excited because they finally have a choice, shows me that as we all age, we can get that excitement back. It’s so easy to sign up at a local college or studio to study something we have come to admire or suddenly want to know more about.

The advantage we have over our kids is watching the world change before our eyes; their everyday reality is new to us, and we have the time and are eager to soak it all in. What are we rushing for anymore? The carpool days are over! It's our time again to be sponges and exercise our brain muscles— which also has its plusses!