A Love Story continued ...

The end of my college time began to come into focus and that created a choice for Jody and I. It involved a major choice for us, … the choice was to continue at the pace I was on and finish 2 more years or really load up on hours and finish in 1 more year. Complicating the decision was the fact that I was working full time, 4-12 Monday through Thursday and 8-4 on Saturdays and we had a 1 year old son. I had been taking classes 4 years and had sat out one year when our son was born. I had been taking a full load, but the minimum for full time (12 or 13 hours) and had changed majors once.

After much talking, calculating and praying we made the decision to go for and try to finish in a year. So, that summer I took 8 or 10 hours I can’t remember for sure. Then in the fall I took 17 ½ hours, then I took 6 hours during January term (does anybody remember those?) and then in the spring I did my student teaching plus some other required teaching class. I am tired just typing this and remembering. I was a lot younger then and we made it. It was a strain physically between the classes, the studying and working 40 hours a week. It was a strain spiritually because of the fatigue and I wasn’t always wise in taking the time I needed for my relationship with Christ. It was a strain on our marriage as you can imagine for all the things I have already mentioned. We made it a priority to take advantage of any free time that I did have to spend it together. At times it was as a family and we made sure we had a few times that were just Jody and I.

It was a long, tough year but I still think back to that year often. I grew a lot that year. To pull it off, and to reach the goal of graduating college was tremendous. Then to know that I was doing this for my son as well added to feeling of accomplishment. Jody and I took some time, talked it out, prayed and agreed to go for it knowing it would not be easy made the completion of the goal all that much sweeter.

I don’t remember anything that was said at my graduation except that they called my name. shook my hand, congratulated me and gave me the evidence that I was a college graduate. It was great to know that Jody and I did it together, I got the degree but she was just as much a part of it as I was and I have never taken that for granted. It was also great that my parents could be there for that moment. I am sure that there were times when they doubted that I would ever get this far, especially during some trying high school times. My Dad was smiling proudly and my Mom was smiling and crying proudly as well. My son didn’t have a clue what was going on, but he did know that everyone sure seemed to be happy.

The goal was reached, I was a college graduate. Now what? I began the process of trying to find a teaching job and that led to …