I've been thinking about this for a long time...

...But I just haven't had the time. Well that may not be true, depending on how you look at how I use my time. Sure, I spend mindless time with my coffee in the mornings playing mahjong or such before work. Maybe I watch an episode of House every week, and have gotten myself hooked on Lost, via Netflix. Yes, I've gone to see my horse here & there. But gathering together my thoughts in regard to what I want to say to you takes time that is focused and without the distraction of knowing I have to be somewhere like work in an hour, or that I really should be studying anatomy & physiology, or the culture of Yahoo, the ethics (or lack thereof) of the health care system in the U.S., and what to think about group presentations on office politics.
I'm envious of people who can sort all those things out and still sleep at night, go out with friends, and blog about it, go to movies, keep up with current events, spend time on facebook, myspace and all those things that younger and more organized people do. Not critical, by any means, just envious. I have this desire to do it all and yet I'm realizing, that now that I am grown up and trying to do it all at once, at the age of 50-something, with financial obligations, health issues and the cost that comes with that, it's not as easy as it all used to be.
There lies the reason why children should go to college immediately following high school, discover what they want to do with their lives, and pursue that goal, even if it means additional education. It gets harder with age. It takes determination and determination gives way a little bit easier as we get older and more distracted.
Not that I wasn't determined as a younger person. I was determined to find a husband, have some children and live in a little house where we would all live happily ever after. Nothing was more important to me than that. Nothing about college or vocation was more interesting. That determination got me here.
Looking back, I would not change one thing about it. Not at all. For one thing, I never would have been so inspired to go back to school now if it were not for the examples that my children have set for me. I would not have been able to look back at the friendship I had with my friend Deb Zoller and realize how she was always continuing her education while she managed her way through her life. Okay, so if I had the power to change one thing, it would be to be able to talk with her about being in school now and to ask for her advice and direction.
So here I am. Three semesters into it. I have no doubt that my 4.0 GPA is gone after this semester. I know I said before that my B in Intro to College Algebra had killed my GPA, but I found out it didn't count as an actual college "credit" course. So now it is up to my attention-deficit Anatomy & Physiology teacher to figure out if I scraped together enough points to get an A in that class, and my Business Communications teacher to average out my excellent work and my above average work. Both classes could go either way. I expect B's in both. I have been told to accept that as pretty damn good, but I expected more of myself.
I'll be back soon to talk about the holidays and more...