My College Retrospective

 

 Stick A Fork in Me...

 

 

 I'm Done!!!

~a college retrospective~

 

 It's unbelievable that this college journey has come to an end and I've reached my goal

  

 

It all started on this beach in the summer of 2011...

 

 

when I took time to reflect on my life and made decisions to make it better.

 

I was in my mid-forties and troubled by this thought:

 

 

 

And I was tired of working two jobs and still getting nowhere, so I thought, what the heck:

 

 

Going back to college was also inspired by the following two thoughts:

 

 

 

I had a lot of trepidation about going back to school when I was pushing 50, and was afraid of being the oldster in class

 

 

and seriously wondered if my brain could keep up

 

 

or if I even still had one

 

 

 

and then I had all that driving to think about...and it was a lot!

 

 

112 round trips to American River College in Sacramento

128 round trips to Columbia College in Sonora

 

for a GRAND TOTAL of (drum roll please)...

 

 26,530 miles!!!

 

I could've driven to New York City and back almost 5 times!

 

  

 

(or, according to my son, I could've driven the circumference of the Earth and then some!)

 

And boy, was my car getting tired of driving!

 

 

(I think I actually heard it murmur, "Kill me now...")

 

 

I have to give credit to the following for keeping me alert during all that driving:

 

Crunchy Snacks

 

Armstrong and Getty Podcasts:

 

CAFFEINE PILLS! WOOO!!!

 

 

 

and looking for interesting number sequences on my odometer 

 

Looking for interesting sights also kept me entertained.

 Like the Liberty Road Chicken Tree:

 

 

the giant flag in Jackson: 

 

this truck-drivin' Santa:

 

 

this sweetHEART of a cow:

 

 

and the Giant Eyeball at the Natomas Center:

 

But my biggest challenge was keeping my tank full:

 

 

The classwork and homework were often challenging, and I spent hours on the computer or with my nose in a book,

 

 

and I felt bad for neglecting everyone to focus on school 

 

 

Sometimes I felt like I was being plotted against: 

 

 

...or the instructions I was getting made no sense at all!

 

 

And finals were intense!

 

 

Yes, these last three years have taken a toll:

 

 

 

There are many times I felt overwhelmed,

 

 

Overtired,

 

and thoroughly tested!

 

 

But somehow I muddled through with no permanent damage:

 

 

and I just kept chanting my mantra:

 

Could I really, finally be free?

 

And, just for the record, this is what it feels like when all that hard work adds up to a 4.0 GPA:

 

but I never could have done it at all without the support and encouragement of my family (and co-workers and friends)!

 

"Thank You" seems so inadequate, but that's all I've got,

 

I'm so happy to be done!