Musings on cats, life, and school

So I got thinking, the school mascot for Weber State University is a wildcat.  How often in a woman's life does one get to go from being a Cougar to a Wildcat!  The transformation usually goes the other way around!

This week shall be quite formative, Monday transcripts situated which will allow me to complete the rest of the tasks I have in line, Thursday is orientation, I suspect I require much orienting, but I'm so looking forward to it.

Today I took my Accuplacer test.  I did about as I expected, better than I expected on the English portion, I placed into the highest English class allowed.  The math portion wasn't quite as bad as I thought, but I will have to take probably 2-3 developmental math classes, starting with Pre-Algebra.  My 13 yr old daughter is taking Pre-Algebra, so yay I'll have someone to help me with my homework!  I am hoping with a bit more life experience gained wisdom I'll accept instruction on algebra this time around.  Last time around I knew I was going into beauty school, and could not think of any practical reason for me to need to know it, it seemed arbitrary.  And really for the past 23 years since I've been out of school I was correct in that assessment, so I got quite a lot of mileage out of that justification.  Even still I don't necessarily see it's relevance in the field I've chosen.  However it has now become this dragon to slay.  A mental barrier I erected at a young age, that said outwardly "I don't need this, so screw it!" but really meant "I don't think I'm smart enough to learn this."  So now I must slay this algebra dragon for my own self esteem if for nothing else.  It probably would have been wiser to do it earlier so I could have helped my children with their Algebra homework rather than to tell them, in the words of my parents, "Sorry kid, you're on your own, this is beyond me"  But, perhaps I'll be able to inspire them to tackle it while they are young and bright so they will pass it along to theirs.

Interesting thing about going back to school at 40, I'll be attending with my eldest daughter, and taking similar english classes, although I'll be about two semesters behind her, and I'm taking the same math classes as my youngest, I'll be about 1 semester behind her.  It's a little sad that I'll be having to "catch up" to my kids, but I'm hoping this will be helpful to keep them motivated to continue college.  I was the second woman on my mom's side of the family to complete high school.  When Paisley and I graduate we'll be the first women in our family to complete college.  I will have graduated or be close to graduation by the time Diana graduates high school, and I'll be able to offer support to her for her college career she otherwise would not have had.  I feel guilty I did not do that for Paisley, but perhaps her path was to learn it on her own in order to gain empowerment, and maybe I needed her to guide me through the process, so I could guide Diana.

Over all I'm very excited to be taking this step for the next few years of my life, at most points in my life 5-6 years of school seemed an eternity, but as I get older those years fly by fast, and with a new positive outlook of this being a grand adventure, and gaining as much from the experience as I can, I think I will look back on this time with pride.  Hell I am feeling pride in the fact that I've even begun the process!  From damned near bedridden with illness a few years back to taking on this monumental task is a huge step.

I am embarking on a new adventure in my life, I'm hoping to chronicle it as I go so my kids will have something to look back on and be proud, or who knows maybe I'll compile all this shit and write a book:)

I'm in the process of enrolling in Weber State University, something I've often dreamed about, and gotten hung up in the process once because of a massive lack of confidence.  I guess as I get older a lot of the silly things about how I might be perceived don't matter as much and now my biggest worry is my ability.  Fortunately Weber has a great non-traditional student program (translation: Old and forgot all the stuff we learned in school because those brain cells were replaced with useful information such as how to get gum out of kids hair and how not to burn dinner).

So here's the plan as of today, with the understanding that "the plan" may evolve a dozen times over the course of this journey:

So the goal right now is to work on a dual major of Gerontology and Health Services Administration, with the goal of turning the latter into a Masters.  Of course at this point I'm starting from square one, with generals, and testing to see what information I either lost or never gained.  I've not yet spoken to an adviser to see if it's a workable plan for me and what the path is to get there yet.  There is an alternative plan for an MBA/MHA combo deal, but lets see how relearning elementary Algebra goes first.

So, why health services administration? Why gerontology for that matter?  Here's the logic behind it, I'm really interested in health care, but not from a stand on my feet all day perspective at this juncture in my life, if I were 18 yrs old and knowing what I do now about my life, and starting school right now I'd totally be leaning towards being a surgeon.  But at 40 now, and as long as it would take to get through school, being a surgeon seems, well something for another lifetime.  If there's another go around perhaps I'll sort it out sooner rather than later.  Nursing, doesn't appeal to me at all.  Overworked, relatively well paid, under appreciated, and lots of bodily fluids just doesn't sound fun to me (blood I can handle the rest not so much).  So that narrows options down some.  Well I've got some management experience, and I did enjoy that, so it makes sense to go into administration.  So why Gerontology?  Well a huge portion of our population is just becoming retirement age, and starting into elderly.  I think there are going to need to be policy makers, program designers, and administrators ready to deal with the massive influx of patients that are going to be hitting over the next  several years.  Whether we have the resources or not, the baby boom generation is going to be flooding health care.  I suspect that like hospitals have cardiac centers and cancer centers now, we'll probably see aging centers which focus on  holistic approaches to aging.

My folks' fear is that the baby boom generation is going to be so underinsured, impoverished, and the programs cut back so badly that they are literally left to perish in the streets, and as my dad put it, "The generation who hosted sit ins aren't going to be crawling up the capitol steps for die ins"  I'd like to think we're more civilized than that, and that somehow we'll find a way to make sure our parents are cared for.  Maybe I can help in some way.

So far, I'm excited and terrified, and I know one day I'll look back on this post and mock myself mercilessly for my naivete, I can live with that.

Onward and upward!