Is the time right?

Way back in the fall of 1994 (after taking a year off to check out the work force) I headed down to Ephriam, Utah to attend my first year of Snow College. Since I was pretty much on my own when it came to paying for my schooling I chose the least expensive school in the state and was thrilled to be going there! I had been working 2 jobs and saving every penny to pay for my housing and luckily I had a leadership scholarship to help with tuition. I won't lie - school was tough and I was so broke it's not even funny! But, I had great room mates and loved the student life experience.

I had planned to get my Associates Degree and then see what happened after that. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up leaving during my second year to serve a mission. People thought I was crazy for not just waiting until I graduated, but the Lord called and I left to serve the people of central Illinois. I was about 16 credits shy of getting my AS degree and I always thought I would go back and continue my education.

After serving my mission, I married my sweetheart and planned to work while he went to school. He went for a while, but didn't love the whole school experience and we both ended up working and wondering when our family would join us. I was completely focused on starting our family and to be quite honest, school wasn't even on my radar at the time. Maybe if I had known that we wouldn't have kids for 6 years I would have been pretty gung ho about finishing up my schooling. But, you never know what the Lord has in store for you.

I didn't really think about school again until we moved to Vermont for Bump's job. But at that time it didn't really make sense to attend a school where we didn't have residency (I'm too cheap to pay out-of-state tuition). Then we moved a few more times and each time we would get settled I had thoughts of going back to school, but it just never felt right.

Then we started having kids and eventually ended up back in Utah. The thoughts of school have not stopped and I even went so far as to check out transfer information on line to Salt Lake Community College. Here's where I just about gave up. On their web site it said that after 10 years that your classes would only be accepted as elective credits. So, I figured that I basically wasted a year and a half of my life at Snow College and who knows how much money? I have since tried to push the idea of going back to school out of my mind at least until the kids are all in school. It hasn't worked.

It doesn't help that everyone around me seems to be either going back to school after a break or starting for the first time, or just getting their degrees. I finally decided what the heck? It's never going to be any easier and I am just pushing off something that I know I will eventually do, so why not just do it? There are so many options for school now with online classes and continuing education courses and a USU campus right in Tooele. And I figure, what's the rush? I can take a class here and there where it's convenient while my kids are little and then go more when they are in school.

So, I did it. At age 35 I turned in my application for Utah State University and got my letter of acceptance today in the mail. Honestly, I am really scared to go back to school. And I am scared to see what classes, if any, they accept from my Snow College days 16 years ago. But I feel like, for some reason, the time is right. My goals are simple: finally get my Associates Degree then evaluate things and hopefully keep on going. I am not going to stress about this. I feel good. There is no rush. I am just taking that first step on the path that I feel I should be on now. Wish me luck!! :)