Blooming Now!

There's this crepe myrtle bush in the corner of my yard, planted 5 or 6 years ago.  It's been a huge disappointment with perhaps six paltry blooms per season, maximum.  Every year, throughout the summer, I've been noticing these beautiful crepe myrtle bushes in many places with dozens of beautiful blooms, quite lovely!  Except my bush. It hardly ever caught my attention - but yesterday it did.  For the first time, it's so full of big raspberry-colored blooms!  At last, it has bloomed!

Look at all those gorgeous blooms on the crepe myrtle bush!

Sometimes people are late bloomers, the kind who just do the minimum in school to get by, never get a degree, get stuck in a series of entry-level jobs.  You probably know a few.  There are a few in my family, including myself.  I didn't finish college until I was fifty years old - a very late bloomer!

But I'd bet I enjoyed school a lot more than those who got their degree right out of high school.  There were other differences:  my memory was not as good as previously, so I had to actually understand all the material.  This proved to be a distinct advantage when it came to the more difficult courses which depended on your initial foundation learning.

While I had family and part-time job responsibilities, I had to organize my time very, very carefully.  Plus, I didn't have the young emotional load of dating and not yet settling down with a spouse.  This gave me extra energy and a whole lot of motivation to succeed.

Was it easy?  Of course not!  I called upon every single brain cell and muscle cell to work overtime!  One time, when I took my three youngest daughters to Lexington (we lived in Danville, Kentucky) to visit family there, I told them, "If I fall asleep at a stoplight, please poke me."  No kidding!  This was my most fatigued moment.  I would not advise commuting to college.

Am I glad I did it?  Of course!  I'm a hundred thousand times glad I did it!  My years in nursing were very fulfilling (also extremely challenging!).

Over the years, I've encouraged many 'older' students to follow their dreams and get that education they hope for.  Many of them say, "When I finish school, I'll be 35 (or 40-something, or 50-something or older)."  I've told them all, "Well, even if you don't go to school, you'll still be 35 (or whatever)."

Several others have pondered, "What if I don't make it?  What then?"  I tell them, "Wouldn't you at least  want to know you tried?  If you don't try, you'll never know!"  I wish I knew the outcome of all those I informally advised.

Then there's the money cost: many say they can't afford it, that they don't want to be in debt.  I couldn't afford it either.  At the time, we had four of our kids also in college.  We all financed our schooling by part-time work, loans, and a couple of scholarships.  Yes, we had debt when we were finished but we were able to pay them off with increased earning power after getting those degrees!

So: encourage those you know (including yourself!) who may be considering returning to higher education.  Don't limit yourself - ever!  Go for it!  You deserve the rewards, the most of which will be learning lots of new things useful to yourself and the whole world!

Dear God, thank You a hundred thousand times for prodding me and enabling me to, at last, finish my college education!  Please help all those who may be thinking about more education!