Excited about it and dreading it at the same time. Eleven years following the ignoble end to my pursuit of a Bachelors degree, I’m back on the rolls as a student. I was so damn close the first time too (really, sickeningly close). Took a decade+ to figure out that this life isn’t a practice round, and if I really wanted it, 36 is not too old to pick up the pieces.
I was older than most traditional students the first time because of putting time into an associates degree and working as a paramedic right out of HS. Then comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes finals week at age 25 with a son, and having a panic attack that the ER finally assures you isn’t a heart attack.
Between then and now I’ve become a hugely content husband, a humble dad, and a highly skilled medic (there are no humble medics). I eased out of fulltime fieldwork a few years back, thinking that having knees and a back that works would be nice in my declining years. Now I’m primarily a phone paramedic, handling 911 calls and laughing from a warm dry place.
Step one is getting my RN license through an ADN program at the local community college. A per diem nursing job would let me work part-time and still earn more than I’m making now.
Then it’s on to a new University. Planning an Environmental Studies multi-disciplinary degree that will let me branch into a little GIS and environmental policy type coursework.
Anyway, I’m just a little leery about being able to stuff my brain back into that mode. I’m not as likely to suffer fools gladly, but determination and focus is there in a way I don’t remember from before.
-thanks for listening
