What Am I Doing Here??!!

Elizabeth Sheppard posted a list of nontrad blogs on her Yahoo nontrad group. Some of the blogs have posts entitled, "I Never Signed Up for This", "Back To School For Grown-Ups", "Returning to College", "The Financial Aid Blog", "College the Second Time Around" and so on.

I remember when I decided to go back to school. I panicked. How was I going to pay for this? Would my employer let me take classes during the day? Was I going to get attacked walking through campus at night? How can I read five chapters a day and still work full time and still be Mom? How do I get my children where they need to go if my husband has to be out of town with his job? What am I doing here????!!! Making the decision to go back to school was a big deal.

I would love to get some of these nontrad bloggers together, sit down to coffee or tea and share stories. What was their impression after the first day of their very first class? I was so excited, I cried. Did they know what a FAFSA was? Luckily, I already had a child in college, so I was familiar with that. What did their classmates think of them? Many of my classmates could not believe I have children their age.

We each have our own stories, our own road to walk down, but we have a common goal - to get that degree! Whether it's an Associates Degree, Bachelor's, Master's or Doctorate, returning to school after you've been out for 5, 10, 15, 20 years and longer can seem like a daunting task, an intimidating proposition, a foolish dream. However, judging from Elizabeth's list, there's lots of folks out there doing it!

I would like to raise my glass in a toast to all my fellow nontrads, wherever you are on the road, "Just do it!" Stay tuned . . .

P.S. Just realized, I've been rather prolific today. Hmm - some days are like that!