Mid-term!

Approximately eight weeks ago I restarted the college career that I oh-so-carelessly abandoned twenty years ago because I thought smoking pot was a heck of a lot more fun that studying.  So maybe it still is, but we all have to grow up at some point.

Here I am, some twenty years later and eight weeks into the first semester of my quest for a business degree.  So far I've done great--straight A's even.  It's been a real challenge finding time to study in between working and wifing and mothering and friending and churching and....you get the picture.  (By the way, I have somehow also found the time to start a blog  in the midst of all of this.  I know, I'm amazing, right?!) I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some of the things I have learned so far since returning to school:

• Carrying a 50 lb. backpack around all the time makes my neck hurt.  What I should have done is invest in one of those back-pack-on-wheels thingies, but what did I do instead?  I spend $600 on physical therapy to try to get my neck straightened out.  Still hurts, by the way.
• You don't really need to know how to do math anymore, you just need  a scientific calculator.  However, they really should provide the new college student with a tutorial on what all of those little buttons do.
• There is no reason to EVER have to physically visit the library as long as you own a computer with Internet access.
• I no longer have time to exercise, but that's ok, because I no longer have time to eat, either.
• I absolutely cannot have Facebook open while studying without continuously clicking on it every few minutes to see if anyone has updated.  MUST.......CLOSE.......FACEBOOK.......
• It's amazing how much extra study time I get when I let the house go, turn off the t.v., and make the kids fend for themselves.
• Which leads me to the most important thing I have learned since going back to school:  my husband is perfectly capable of picking the kids up from school, checking homework, cooking them dinner and getting them all into and out of the tub all before I get home from my night class.  Ok, so it's only one night a week.  I'm still so proud. :)

  

Miss you, Dad

I miss my Dad today.  No, not because he's in Heaven--he's alive and well in Pensacola, Florida.  I miss him because I watched one of my very best friends, Laura, say goodbye to her Daddy today.  Laura's Dad lost a long and brave battle with ALS.  I shed maybe two tears during the funeral.  After all, I really didn't know him.  I'd only met the man twice, but I watched Laura get torn to pieces dealing with his illness.  And, besides, I'm not really a big crier, not in public anyway.  But when I got in my van and headed back home, I thought about my Dad.  After all, the two men were the same age, they looked like they could be brothers and have lived similar not-so-righteous lives.  Anyway, I got into my van and the tears just came.  I cried for my friend who has struggled with her father's illness for so long, and I cried because I miss my Daddy.  I wish he lived closer.  I wish he was watching his Grandbabies grow up. But most of all, I thank God he's still with us and I do get to hug him two or three times a year.  Laura, I am so sorry you lost your Dad.  Dad, I am so glad I am going to be able to give you a hug when you come in for a visit in two weeks.  You better believe it'll be a good one.  I just may not let go.