… that’s all the time I have left before I delve back into school. 9 of my 14 textbooks have arrived. My school email address is configured. My desk space has been set up and a laptop is at the ready. All that’s left is pre-reading and paying my tuition. And 4-6 years of study, research, hair pulling, and the occasional maniacal grin.

When I left university 20+ years ago, I never imagined I’d return. I always assumed that higher education wasn’t for me. My brain didn’t work “that way”. Dropping out was a huge disappointment to my parents at the time. The first in the family to go to university was also the first who didn’t finish. I wasn’t ready to settle down or follow a single path. I worked and tried new things. I lived in multiple countries and continents. As I grew in work and life experience, I found a new passion and new friends. Those new friends helped me figure out the baby steps I’d need to follow to continue in my planned career change.

Returning to university in my early 30s was the best thing that could have happened to me. With work and life experience under my belt, I had something to contribute to other students and profs that was missing from my first attempts at university immediately following high school. With new technologies available I was able to attend classes while working full-time. I never expected to move from BA to MEd to PhD in quick succession yet here I am. I only wish my dad could have lived to see this. I’m certain he’d be amazed at how everything turned out. Education was one of his fundamental values.

If I’d known then what I know now, I’d have let myself off the hook for many things. I’d have been less worried about not measuring up and have perhaps enjoyed the journey a bit more along the way. Regardless, I can take comfort in the knowledge that I’m always learning.

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