Learning

"Mom, does water beat lava or does lava beat water?"

This is an example of the type of questions that await me each morning.  Ian's mind is constantly thinking and wondering and trying to understand this world around him.  It's one of my most favorite things about him (sometimes drives me crazy though, I must admit).

He has been learning about the different systems in the human body this past month.  Each day he comes home and tells me things he has learned and will recite them almost verbatim.  I'm in awe of how his mind absorbs and retains information (and a little jealous too). 

I love looking at life through his eyes.  Everything is a wonder.  This world his so huge.  In fact he told me that exact thing this morning as I was driving him to school.  "Mom, it's crazy how big this world is" he said.  "I mean, each state feels so big, but then there's the whole world!  You know?"    And then he was silent.  And I knew that his mind was busy again thinking, thinking, thinking.

Nursing school has taught me so much.  I have learned how to help people regain their health through a variety of methods whether through medication administration, through keeping a procedure sterile so as it not introduce bacteria into an already weakened area of the body's natural defense system, or through therapeutic conversation.  But it has also taught me that there is so much that I don't know.  I will never stop learning.  I will never know it all.  In fact when I graduate at the end of the year, I will be just like a 9 year old child, still wondering and trying to understand this new world of nursing.

But Ian's daily peppering of questions reminds me how much fun it is to learn and how exciting knowledge can be. And with him around, none of us will stop learning.  That I can guarantee.