Curiosity

Growing up, I remember countless times when doing homework I would ask some question and my mother would go look up the answer. She would look it up even when I begged her not to and she would just say "I won't tell you what I find." It drove me nuts. She was obviously putting far too much effort into an annoying, stupid homework assignment. I thought she was far too curious.
As I've gone back to school in a field I am unfamiliar with I find myself wanting to do well. Thus, when I learn a new word, or come across one in my readings (some required some not) I've been looking them up and then defining them on a spreadsheet. Yes I could just google them again later but it seems helpful to redefine it in my own words and type it myself. Suddenly I seem to have become my Mom, looking up everything and asking questions. And its kind of fun. I also find it exciting when I then hear the word or principle I looked up a couple of days before and say "I know that now!" But at times it also seems kind of exhausting. You have to take the time to look it up.
But the question that I do not have the answer to is: Is this curiosity just tied to my desire to do well in school? Or is it something that I will be able to continue?
Primarily so I can annoy my own kids