I don't know what the cause of this mornings church service. There seemed to be a pall of lethargy hanging over the congregation. I have seen more action in a grave yard at midnight (don't ask what I was doing there, totally different story!). We usually try to go to the early service. By doing this it seems to give us more time during the day afterwards, without the chunk of time of the later service being taken out of the day. We are re-thinking this. The early service, while convenient for time management, seems to have a VERY subdued tone to it. We are going to try to remember to go to the later service next week, in the hopes that the congregation will have had more coffee and time to wake up. Perhaps then there will be fewer people napping in the pews.
Hubby and I have been talking lately about me going back to school. When I think about this, I wish that I was 20 years younger, or that I was more comfortable in my own skin back then and knew more what I wanted out of life. There are so many different avenues that appeal to me. So many things that sound like I would enjoy them. I will of course start out with a basic class or two in the hopes that when I do go back full time I will have decided on which of the interesting roads I wish to go down.
I sometimes think it is a shame that people generally are expected to go to college right out of high school. Remembering back at that age, and speaking with kids that age now makes me realize that most people really aren't ready and know what they want to do. Had I stuck with the original course I started out on 20 years ago, I would be miserable now. Of course, I don't know that there is any easy solution for this. The longer someone waits to go to college, the less likely it is that they will actually go. On the flip side, the older students tend to know what they want, and be more prepared to put the time in to achieve those goals.
As with everything, there is always an exception. I did know a few people in high school who knew exactly what they wanted, and struck out for college to make it happen. At my 20 year reunion, they are still working in the fields they chose at an early age and loving it. The percentage of people who had changed educational and career paths numerous times was much higher; but there were the few there who had their lives lined up early on.
Maybe college should be like the drinking age, and not allowed before the age 21? Or perhaps the educational system should adopt a program in which after High School young adults go into the military or other types of community service programs to give them a taste of the real working world. I think 2 or 3 years of required exposure of what the world is really about would be beneficial to everyone.
I think my feelings on this are in the minority though. Oh well, I will just plan to make everything available to my kids and not shelter them from what is really out there. Hopefully this will make the decisions they make during their teens good ones.