The Calm Before the Storm

I start back to school on Thursday. It will be a full day for me. I start off with my History Honors class from 9:40 to 10:55am. Then I have my interview at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame at 3pm. My evening class (Economics) goes from 6:30 to 7:45pm. I am hoping my Econ teacher (a grad student) doesn't keep us the whole time. I want to get home to watch the Oklahoma Sooners whoop up on the Florida Gators. My daughter was born in Oklahoma, so the Sooners hold a special place in my heart. No one in Tennessee likes the Gators anyway.


I am watching this semester approach like I watch a scary movie - with my hands covering my face. The last time I went to school full time and worked full time was over 20 years ago. Can I do it again without a) pulling my hair out, b) making my family crazy and c) getting fired? I hope so. I have enjoyed these past few weeks of relative sanity. I have been researching material for my EUReCA project, studying for my GRE, looking for the best deal on a laptop, spending time with my family, and trying to get my garage cleaned out. It has been relative calm before the storm.


Now I feel as if I need to lace up my running shoes, get situated in the starting blocks and get ready to run my heart out! This is going to be an interesting race this semester. My Econ teacher is a grad student from another country. Hope I'll be able to understand him. My History Honors class subject is about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Knoxville from 1915-1925. My Anthropology class is about the pre-History of Tennessee. I will not have the same prof for my Spanish class (which I'm taking at the community college again). History is my only day class. Econ, Anthro and Spanish are my night classes. My only free night during the week is Friday - when my daughter plays her basketball games.

Add into the mix that my daughter will not only be playing on the varsity basketball team, but will also be on a traveling volleyball team again and will have tournaments out of town once every three weeks. Last spring, I took my homework with me to the volleyball tournaments. The other parents knew that when I had my backpack out, they needed to leave me alone to study. It was fun dividing my time between being a cheerleader for my daughter and being a student.

Whew! Someday, this will all be over and then . . . . I'll be in grad school! In the meantime, I will keep plugging away, one semester at a time (sheepish grin, sigh of resignation).