Life's a...
Journey. Sometimes it's smooth and peaceful and sometimes it's downright explosive. And not in a good way. Teenage drama. Need I say more?
I wish I had a do-over for my first attempt at college. Mostly because I was stupid to quit when school was $4 a semester hour and went back when it was obnoxiously high. Hence, my school mortgage. If I hadn't been distracted by a boy, and my parent's divorce, and my grandmother's heart attack, and, and... I should have stuck it out.
I had grand plans to be a doctor. I had it all planned. Pre-med, four years of medical school, the internship, the residency... Then I took college chemistry and attempted physics. OMG! Algebra and I never did communicate. I could handle geometry and even statistics. Don't know how I passed trigonometry. But basic algebra and I... not so good. What amazes me is that I somehow got out of it when I went into college. How the hell I scored the math score I did on my SATs is beyond me, because I sure fooled somebody. The reason I passed genetics? Because it is mostly statistics. Give me a number to plug in and I can tell you just about anything. Give me some abstract A, B, C, X, Y or whatever... Does not compute.
When I went back to school in 1996 I had to finish my undergraduate degree. I finished 3 years (had to take some over because... long story from idiocy before) in 2. I tinkered with going to law school and probably should have, but... too late now. Maybe if math had been a part of the LSAT I would have done better. Or, maybe I should have been a serial test taker and scored better the next time.
The really amazing thing about this is when I decided to attend graduate school, I had to take the GRE (grad school version of the SAT). Same damn thing. High math scores. So, I know those tests can't mean anything or I would be able to help my kids do their math homework!
Long story short is I wasted 10 years when I could have been productive in an area I might have liked. Because, make no mistake, I hated my job. Loathed and despised it. Years when I could have been advancing in a chosen career and maybe wouldn't have the regrets I do about it. But, live and learn they say. Well, I lived... I learned.
Finally - I'm sending prayers to my friend Todd who is awaiting CT Scan results for his follow-up checkup after cancer treatment. God has blessed him with incredible strength and faith to get him through. He won't stop now.
Yes, I have the same college regrets. If I had finished when I should have, I would have tenure at some university now. Oh well, should've, could've, would've.
ReplyDeleteI hope you friends CT scan comes out okay.
Thanks, Bailey.
ReplyDeleteI got my MRS degree instead of actually finishing school (yeah okay I went for a week--but that is a huge long story that ended with lots of liquor, torn clothes and cops. . . .'nuff said )
ReplyDeleteHugs and luck to Todd!