The description of that high school Office Lab class - the half-day class that was to fill my senior year - described it as an intensive course designed to take students directly from high school into a fulfilling career as a secretary. Perfect! And, it was enough for several years. However, times change; businesses change; management changes; people change... everything changes. After hearing stories of people who've been forced out of jobs because they lacked a college degree, or of people who've had a difficult time landing a new job because they also lacked a college degree, I thought perhaps I'd better take this serious lest I find myself in the same situation someday.
I also found myself wondering if maybe I should have taken my education further all those years ago. I felt that I was missing something - I just wasn't really sure what that was. There was also that part of me that longed to tackle the challenge of a college education. I've tackled lots of challenges over the years... I taught myself to knit and actually made things that fit... and that I was proud to wear in public; I learned to do quilting, stained glass work and cake decorating; I learned to do the nearly lost art of tatting; and I finally took a class and learned to properly do hand applique. But, still there was something missing...
After thinking about it for awhile and reading about the types of classes I would be required to take, I finally decided to enroll in Indiana Wesleyan University. I began my college journey in 2008. Honestly, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had imagined or feared. By the summer of 2010, I had earned my Associates Degree. My original thought was to stop with that, but I was actually enjoying college classes. Having a Bachelors Degree would (hopefully) open more doors for me down the road, so I decided I'd better keep going or I'd never finish. I took a couple weeks off, then started right back in.
The Bachelors program wasn't exactly the "cake walk" that the Associates program seemed to be... the professors were much more stringent, the classes much more demanding, and the content much more difficult. Oy, what was I thinking?! I should've done this right after high school so I didn't have to worry about keeping up with a full-time job, or a household, or a husband, or a bunch of cats and laundry and yard work and everything else that comes along with being an adult! I finally understood why some people never finish college... or why some people never even start it! But, I knew I had to see it through all the way to the end or I'd forever feel like a quitter. I had my own personal cheerleaders cheering me on... my wonderful husband, Dave, all of my quilting and knitting friends, and my family.
Miraculously, nearly four years to the day after starting college, I finished! And, something else I never did even in high school... I actually graduated with high honors... Magna Cum Laude... ME!!! :-)
What an accomplishment... what an awesome feeling!!
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| Me with my biggest cheerleader, Dave. |
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| Me with my dad and stepmom. |
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