MORE Tuition?

Carlene saved me and my kids and my friends a lot of grief and remorse by telling us early on that "everything is tuition."

That adage has an appendage: I ought to always be learning stuff.  I'm a learning junkie, always have been, but only on topics I care about.  I do not wish to learn trigonometry or make-up skills or how to strengthen my core or sports.  NPR is always on in my car because it's my best source of learning things besides You Tube and online classes.  

I learn every day more about how to interpret Luci's language.  Downward dog pose means "I'm tired of sitting around; I want to walk or go see somebody I like."

She has a very expressive set of eyes.  Jan came over to walk her one afternoon when I was unable to walk, and Luci gave her the side eye and went under the covers and curled up close to me.   Her preferences are obvious. She couldn't have said more clearly, "I  only like to walk with this lady."  But bless Jan, she overrode Luci's preferences and dragged her along. 

When we do walk, she tries to negotiate an extra block at every corner.  She plants her little tiny feet on the pavement, refusing to go in the direction I've chosen (back home mostly) and she holds that pose with fierce determination.  I usually give in.  She knows I'm a softie.

I spent hours last week researching scooters.  Consumer Reports recommended a Glashow, but when you clicked their link, it took you to Parseec.  I learned that two products can have--inexplicably--two different names that don't even rhyme.

The one I really wanted was too new to be reviewed on Consumer Reports: Scootngo Voyager baby blue could be purchased from the company or from Amazon and Walmart. But the warranty wasn't good unless you bought it from the company.  I called the company numerous times and left messages on their answering machines. I emailed them even more.  But no one ever answered. (Parseec/Glashow did answer at least but by Indian men I couldn't understand who answered my questions by reading verbatim from the website.)

I learned this: ask Google what stores sell or rent them--and that's how. I met Cayce who ran a store in Pigeon Forge. She has an American Southern accent and we understood each other perfectly.  One thing I'd learned in my research she reinforced by saying,   "A warranty is worth nothing if no one answers the phone." 

 In this age of QR codes and apps and portals and AI, life lessons come at us from all directions.  

After hearing of my recent betrayal by Orlando, Elena said, "You're too nice to everybody, Yenna.  You shouldn't trust so many people."  (I had an idea she'd heard that from her parents.)

"You're probably right.  I'm learning how to be more skeptical," I said.  "But when I was your age,  a person's word meant something.  If you said you were going to do something, you were going to do it.  It was this way with everyone." 

Sometimes we pay tuition for un-learning things.