Philosophy by Molly: The Sphere

I graduated from college at the age of 21.  I was young, yes, but I was married and had two college degrees.  I knew all I needed to know.


Or so I thought.

At that time, I knew I wanted a Master’s degree in library science.  I wasn’t able to do that school of study at the time and it has waited until now.  I still want that degree, but since then, I have found there are so many awesome things out in the world to study and learn about.  Areas of study that I never knew about when I was 21.  Since then, I’ve learned about linguistics and the fascinating history and evolution of languages.  I wish I had known about that in college.  I would have taken a class to learn more about it.

I now realize that I was very limited in my “sphere” of knowledge.  My mother was a teacher.  My parents are smart people.  They taught me many things.  But I got to college and met someone who was going to study Interpersonal Communications.  I had no idea what that meant.  How did he find out about that kind of degree? His sphere of experiences was quite different from my own.  My parents taught me what they could from their sphere of knowledge and experience and that is what I went out into the wide world with.

Mom and Dad aren’t into spicy foods.  So, most of the foods I ate fit into the “mild” category.  I met my husband, who loved extra sharp cheddar cheese and spicy foods.  I found a new side to food I had never known and liked it!  Hubby had never listened to The Beatles growing up.  His parent’s weren’t Beatles people.  Mine were, so I grew up with The Beatles.  I had never heard of Pink Floyd until my husband introduced me to it.  Now, we are both Beatles and Pink Floyd fans.  We shared our favorite books with each other.  Hubby had never read The Never Ending Story and I had never read The Lord of the Rings.  Now we have.

I grew up in a big city with plenty of opportunities for culture – symphonies, theater, art and museums.  My husband grew up in a tiny town in the western USA.  He knew about camping in the wilderness and not in a state park.  We each had our spheres and when we married, we combined those spheres into a much larger one.

I look at my children.  They have had experiences that I never could have imagined.  We’ve moved around the country and have lived on the East Coast, the western desert, and a Pacific island.  We’ve hosted five exchange students from four different countries.  We’ve explored new foods, talked about many areas of study, and introduced them to a wide variety of music. I believe my children’s sphere of knowledge and experience when they leave home is going to be much larger than mine was when I left home.

Still, I have no doubt that my children will get out in the world and discover new things.  I hope their sphere will continue to grow.  It’s an amazing world out there.