As the children returned to school last week, I found myself thinking about my own education and the many different forms it has taken throughout my life.
For the most part, I loved school, especially junior high. My classes felt more mature, and I was beginning to have a say in where my interests lay. High school was a little different. There were too many worries about friendships and boys, and I sometimes found it difficult to concentrate on anything else. Still, I loved my English, drama, French, and chemistry classes and, more importantly, I loved the teachers who taught them. By my junior year, however, I was ready to move on.
My father unexpectedly died in December of the year I turned sixteen, and his death created a huge shift in my life. I felt an urgency to make changes and move forward. I graduated from high school early and became a freshman at the University of Wyoming.
It was that year that I realized college was where I belonged. The walks from my dormitory to class felt like freedom. I worked hard, stayed organized, and had a wonderful first year. I loved the independence of it all; the sense that I was responsible for my own life and that there was so much ahead of me to discover.
At eighteen, I married my high school sweetheart and moved into married student housing. Life felt perfect. I loved having my own little home and my own husband. We made many friends and had a very active social life. We went to school, studied, skied, entertained, and enjoyed being young and married. Life was good.
By nineteen, I had given birth to my beautiful son, Marshall.
My mother came to help with the baby while I went to class and took all of my fall finals. In the spring, my husband and I carefully arranged our schedules so that one of us was always home with Marshall. We were young parents, but we were determined to make our family life and our education work together.
I joined La Leche League and met a remarkable group of women. Many were working toward postgraduate degrees while also being completely immersed in providing the best possible lives for their children. They seemed to embody the idea of “doing it all,” motherhood and career, family and education.
I was inspired by these women. They encouraged me, often without even realizing it, to keep looking beyond what I already knew and to seek more from life.
I left college with just one three-hour class remaining to complete my degree. Somehow, that final class seemed to follow me everywhere. I signed up for a correspondence course, packed the books and all the materials into my life, and carried that course with me from Wyoming to Florida, California, Hawaii, and Virginia.
Along the way, I continued taking classes wherever I happened to be. I enrolled at local community colleges and explored subjects that interested me, including culinary arts, parenting, and teaching. I loved learning simply for the sake of learning, but I especially liked classes that ended with a certificate. There was something satisfying about having a tangible reminder at the end, a little piece of paper that said, I did it.
Looking back, I realize I never really stopped being a student. My education just became less about a classroom and more about following my curiosity wherever life took me.
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree the same year that Marshall graduated from high school. By then, I had four children who no longer needed a stay-at-home mother, and I was ready to begin a new chapter for myself.
I really enjoyed being the oldest student in my classes, though I was only in my early thirties! There was something wonderful about returning to school with a little more life experience and perspective. This time around, I concentrated on English literature and especially enjoyed the variety of my poetry and literature classes. I found myself appreciating the depth and richness of the material in a way I might not have when I was younger.
Although I can’t commit to the time that a college course requires these days, I still find myself looking for ways to learn and grow. Lately, I’ve been searching for a knitting class where I can improve my technique and perhaps pick up a few new skills along the way.
And there is another kind of learning I hope to pursue. I have been invited to join a group of women who gather to read and study the Bible together. I think I’m drawn to the combination of learning and community, the chance to explore something meaningful while sharing the experience with other women.
Perhaps that is what I have always loved about taking classes: there is always something new to learn, and there is something special about learning alongside other people.
