This month (and into next) millions of children, young adults, and adults will return to schools of all types and levels.  Our kids have already gone back (this week!  We're on an alternate, year-round schedule) with the requisite amount of misery, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.  I don't expect a young child to understand, but found myself lecturing: "You'll look back someday and see this as an awesome time in your life."  It sure seems true to a middle-aged adult.  I'm sure we all would be much better students and would embrace some of those subjects we skidded through years ago if we could do it again.

Another parenting message I find myself uttering is this: While school may end, learning never does.  School just provides a framework and structure to make sure you learn things that are a great basis for doing whatever comes next in life.

If you're an adult, that last sentence would be a great one to re-read. 

What's next in YOUR life?  It isn't over, even if you're incredibly content in mid-career bliss.  What things that are coming would benefit from a learning experience?  What holes in your abilities or knowledge are barriers to the things you want to accomplish?  What skills would give you satisfaction; what mysteries can you uncover; what wisdom could you share (if you had it)?

As I review my bucket list, I find that several of the items on the list involve learning, including learning Spanish and getting my Flight Instructor certificate.  Those things don't happen overnight or with a phone call.  They require weeks and months and perhaps even years of applied skill, but the results and abilities and opportunities they open... well, that's why they're on the bucket list in the first place.