As a baby,
You learn so much
How to eat without spilling it on yourself,
How to talk real words,
Words that have meaning

Before you get to go to school
They expect you to be able to perform these skills
Before they begin to teach you new ones

By the time you walked out of elementary school,
You learned how to
Write in kindergarten
Honing that skill in second grade.
You learned how to read in first grade,
And began to read chapter books in third.
You learned multiplication in third grade,
And long division in fourth.
You learned how ecosystems work in fourth grade,
And made one in fifth.

In middle school
You learned how to love,
You learned what it felt like to want to hold someone’s hand,
You wanted it so badly you could feel how soft his hand was,
You could imagine yourself wrapping you arms around his body
As he spins you around in the air.
You learn what it feels like,
To have your heart broken
To be able to do nothing but sit on the couch in you P.Js
And eat ice cream while you cry.

In high school,
You learned how to be an adult,
How to get a job,
Going through the application process
And going to an interview,
You learned how to get into a good collage,
How to cheer when the form came telling you,
That you were accepted into the school of your dreams

In collage,
You learn how to love someone
And know deep down in your heart that he is the person
You are going to marry.
You learn what it is like to be on your own in the world,
What it is like,
To have to pay your own bills,
To have to worry about how you will pay your rent,
And what is like to have a job with a steady paycheck.

As you go into life,
With a degree
And a steady pay check,
You think that you a have stopped learning
You of course are wrong,
You will never stop learning.