Education Envy

It has been a while since I actually had time to sit and think about anything. I took several college courses and was immersed in learning and studying for most of the spring and summer. It was really amazing that after so many years away from school my brain could still absorb knowledge. I was always afraid that I wouldn't be a good student. I hated high school with a passion. For a few years after I graduated I had a recurring dream that they came to me and said my diploma was no good and that I had to go back to high school. I would wake up with cold sweat and palpitations. This did not bode well for any type of higher education so I took a long pass on that and settled into just drifting along.



Last year in September my youngest son started high school. I went with him for orientation and helped him choose what classes he wanted to take. What surprised me was that I felt jealous of the opportunity to pick and choose and learn all kinds of different things. I had education envy! Of course I realized that high school was not an option....they frown on middle aged ladies in gym shorts playing dodge ball.



I had an epiphany that I wanted, (really really wanted) to go to college. Now anyone who graduated with me would roll their eyes and know I had gone off the deep end. I was a person that cut so many days my senior year that I literally forgot both my schedule and my locker combination. I really did not apply myself. Luckily this was during the seventies and thanks to many ridiculous elective choices I managed to pull enough credits out of the hat to earn that diploma. This probably accounts for the numerous diploma retraction dreams.



The first day of my first class I was probably more nervous than I was when I took my driver's test and I failed that miserably the first time. I walked into a class room that was packed. There were no seats left except for the very first row. Talk about the geekiest "kid" in the class. Had to be me! I really didn't look around I just kept my eyes on the teacher and listened and took notes. I really took myself a little too seriously. When class was over and I got up to leave I noticed that there was no demographic that would describe my classmates. They were Everybody! There were plenty of young kids but surprisingly there were older (really older) people and every age in between. One of my fellow students was one of kids friend's sister and one of them was a co-worker of mine from a former job. It was great!



I now have 13 college credits and a 4.0 GPA and I can't wait till September! I told you I was the geekiest kid in the class!!