The Journal of a College Dropout: My First Day Back at School
You know that feeling that comes over you when you are embarking on something new that makes a significant difference in your life? That was my feeling all day Monday (April 1). Why, you say? It was my first day back at school in more than 15 years.
On Thursday, May 5, 1994 at Loos Field House in Dallas, I graduated from David W. Carter High School in the top 30% of my class. I remember that day like it was yesterday. My deceased grandmother, my living grandmother, mother and father were all in attendance to see me walk across that stage.
After all of the pomp and circumstance, my best friend since third grade who also graduated that night, Dawaylla, and I met in the front of the field house to take photos with our families and other graduating friends and classmates. We were so excited about venturing off to college and "being grown."
That fall I remember my mom driving me to Oklahoma City University and helping me prepare my dorm room. She seemed to be excited, but I quickly realized that she was actually a little sad, too.
I thought I would be the one crying because I would no longer be with my mom every day, but I was OK. We said our goodbyes and I watched her wipe tears from her eyes as she walked down the sidewalk back to her car to drive back to Duncanville. I stood there wondering when it would all hit me, but that never happened. I was ready to take on the "college life."
Long story short, I never completed the "college life." You would think that I would have because I come from a home with a mother who obtained her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Education and she was also an educator. Fortunately and unfortunately, I began working in my career field about two months after I went to college.
This was a double-edged sword, because it created a young lady with the wrong attitude toward going through a process. Since I was able to skip all of the formalities and get what I wanted the "microwave way," that is what I expected with everything in my life.
It got worse, because when I would apply for jobs, in most cases I never went through an interview process. They just hired me because I knew someone or I talked my way into it. Looking back on it, that was one of my biggest problems then.
Since I walked away from college, my mom has stayed in my ear each and every year that I need to go back to school. I have actually attempted to go back five times and have been unsuccessful. Now I have four reasons that I need to complete my degree. The first reason is for myself, then my kids Carlie and Tamaryn (that's them on the left), and of course, I have got to make mom happy because she has spent majority of her life making me happy.
Outside of those reasons, I also would like to be marketable in the workforce. Completing my degree would show my current employer that I am dedicated, driven and can complete a simple task.
Yesterday was my first day back in school and I was as excited as I was when I went to Oklahoma City University. Now I am a proud Jarvis Christian College Bulldog and excited to see where this journey takes me.
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