On Monday night at 10:30 pm (EST) I submitted my final project for my undergraduate degree. I never honestly thought the day would come, and I’m not going to lie, I thought I would feel a sense of relief. Instead, I had a knot in my stomach and a feeling of unrest. Thankfully, that feeling went away a few days later when my final grade was posted. I officially finished my Bachelor’s degree, and funnily enough I even got a rose.

I went to college in Illinois up until the last semester of my senior year. After meeting with advisor’s every semester and planning my schedule I thought I was on track to graduate that winter. I applied for graduation and didn’t give it a second thought, until I received a rejection letter. Seriously, I was told I could not graduate. I went to see an advisor and asked what was wrong with this situation.  “Oh, you never picked a minor.” “How’s that?” “You have to have a minor with your degree, you never selected one, therefore you cannot graduate.” “Funny, this never came up in the past 4 years. Um, how about Italian, I’ve taken most of the requirements for that.” “Perfect! Now, since that’s in the new catalog you have to take all of the new general requirements.” “How’s that now?” “You’ll graduate next summer.” “Funny, I’m getting married in May so, no.” I left school a few weeks later. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea at the time.

After getting married I started taking classes again through an online school.  Since I was working full time I knew it was near impossible to take a full course load and work 40+ hours a week, so this was my best option. I changed majors (ridiculous idea) and went on my merry way. I dropped out, again, after getting pregnant with the kiddos because I was too sick to even know what my name was, let alone write a 5-8 page research paper every 5 weeks. Finally,a year and a half ago I went back to school, switched back to my old major and hit the books (sometimes literally).

I knew I was crazy trying to run this site, care for 3 year old twins, run the house, and take classes, all while trying to keep my sanity. I’m happy to say I didn’t even get a gray hair during all of this and managed to get mainly A’s, and the occasional B. Honestly, I do not think this would have happened had I not had the support of my husband, Scott. He gave me the hour or so I would need a few times a week to just hole up in the bedroom and work. I’m seriously one lucky lady.

Up until this moment, as I sit here writing this post, I knew I had to complete school so I could finally get a decent job, but I never thought about how getting my degree would influence my kids.  How could I tell them the importance of having a degree and not have one myself? To a point I wanted to do this so my children would be proud of me one day. I want my kids to tell their kids, “My Mom raised us AND went to school and only complained a few times.” Come on, I couldn’t say “and never complained” that would just be a flat out lie.

If you are thinking of going back to school, or starting school for that matter, I’m here to tell you it’s possible. If anything it is a chance to read material that is not Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I’m not saying that’s not a wonderful book, but every once and a while you need something more stimulating.

I hope that if you are thinking of going back to school that this has encouraged you to take the first step. It’s totally worth it and totally possible. To quote one of my favorites, Dr. Seuss, “And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you’ll move mountains.”