College Campus

I had exited the Student Success Committee meeting this afternoon and then spent a little extra time sitting at one of the picnic tables discussing ideas with my office partner. Even though we are currently sharing a temporary office, he and I rarely have much time together. When we parted ways, I realized I was watching an afternoon group of students on their way to the parking lot. So I stepped to the lawn, slid my camera from my pocket, and clicked three photos. Nothing stellar, but the scene felt vast. Then I noticed the sound of the wind in the palm trees.

That same sound heard at the Riverside campus in January of 1985 had a magical tone as I walked from the parking lot to the registration office with our son who wanted to enroll in community college. Somehow I knew that day, like I had never known before, that I needed to enroll. I am not a mystical person, but it was as though the wind was whispering to me. I don't think I've ever written that story into my blip. Someday I should. The memory still gives me goosebumps.

In the past day or so, I have found a brief essay that I wrote 8 years ago on May 20, 2003. I'll include it below:

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College appeared to be a huge monstorous obstacle when I was young. My parents never molded the idea of higher education into a tempting morsel. My friends never spoke much about their future educational plans. So I never gave it a thought. Education caught me by surprise. Twenty years after I should have been fully engaged in high school (and was not), I found myself sliding quietly into the student desk at the local community college. I had a fulltime job; I had a fulltime husband; I had two fulltime teenagers in my home. My paycheck was stagnant. My future was limited. My potential was untapped.

Eighteen years after stepping into college and twelve years after receiving my Master's Degree in English Composition, the one thought I have often is 'Why?' 'Why didn't I enroll sooner?'

I have that thought because my life has changed immensely since I exited the university environment. What I know now is that the open door of the community college was just the first of a myriad of doors that would swing wide-open for me. Many of those doors are directly related to the courses I enrolled in, and I'm sure those courses were enhanced by the personality of the individual instructors and by my personal likes and dislikes of the subject matter.
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The crisp lined notebook paper that I used to hand-write those words, reveals that I wrote it in the classroom years ago while my students were writing an in-class essay. It is an unfinished essay. I'm sure my thoughts had been stirred by something a student had said. Certainly I regret that I entered college so late in my life, but I do not regret that I finally got there!

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. That Cinderella carriage (over there in the corner) -- just came right out of "wonderland" to cross our path and give us a thrill as we entered our anniversary week a year ago. This year I have refrained from mentioning it here in Blipland. I think others tire of the same ol' same ol'. But the two of us are having a fabulous week knowing that this Sunday is THE day. Just a magical day in every way. Who would have thought a 15 year old and a 19 year old would beat the odds. Not us! So we still blink, pinch ourselves, laugh, hug, and lift our glasses Heavenward to toast a word of "Thanks!" Annie was the one that brought that corner photo to my attention! Thanks for taking me back one year to enjoy a magical moment!