Even though I wrote this some time ago, I am reposting this because there are many young women and men who are finding it difficult to pursue their dreams of attaining an education. All of us have met with obstacles and though mine were not the same as yours, they WERE a challenge.  You can get an education!  I promise you, that if you want it bad enough you will find a way. Keep your focus and do what you have to do.  Don't be afraid to ask for help because somebody WILL help you.  You are the future of this nation.     

The Importance of Education

I’m always writing something and the prerequisite for committing my thoughts to paper is that I would not be ashamed if my kids, my granddaughters or my mother were to see it.  And while Momma has moved on to her Heavenly home and my own kids know me too well to be very surprised at anything I say and/or do, my granddaughters are still somewhat impressed with me  and are just as likely to find things not meant for their edification as I was at their ages.  I remember prowling in my parent’s attic once and hitting the jackpot—Daddy’s love letters to momma while he was in Guam in 1945.  He innocently professed his undying love for my mother in the most poignant prose and it was completely G-rated (“cause that’s how they did things back then”).  However, when you are thirteen, seeing that kinda mushy stuff involving your parents is completely disgusting!  Of course I shared it with my siblings and we giggled and told our neighbors and caused my parents some blushing explanations and I got a stern lecture about not “getting into other people’s business”.  Ok, now I’m completely off course for the subject of this story.  I’ll rein it in!

Let me try this again.  I want to write a little piece that will reflect well on the value of an education and how that most things worth doing are never without a certain amount of effort.  I’ll start by explaining that while I do have a M. ED in guidance and counseling, it was that first degree in elementary education, that took me seven years to attain.  Yes, I was on the seven year, two babies and a sick husband plan.   Some semesters Bodie, my husband and greatest cheerleader, had to be admitted to Scott & White Hospital due to uncontrolled Chron’s Disease.     While I was there with him my sister, my sisters-in-law and/or Bodie’s mother would care for our kids.  I can never repay this debt of gratitude!  This was early on in my quest for a higher education.  I often had to drop the six hours I was enrolled for and try it again during another semester.  In 1973, I was enrolled at Weatherford College taking British Literature and Child Growth and Development when I went in to labor two weeks early and Ashley was born April 24^th---two weeks before the semester ended.  When I called my professors both said they would take the grade I had and Dr. Johnson, said that he would just allow my “first-hand experience” to stand as my final exam in my Child Development class.  Both he and Janine Irby wished me the best.  I made two A’s and acquired six more hours toward my degree.  Whew!  After that I took a year or so off to be a full-time momma but never giving up my desire for an education. 

Most years I went just part-time until the last forty five hours or so and by then Matt was in school and Ashley went to Mother’s Day Out at our church so I could devote all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays to classes.  The last summer session before I graduated both kids went to Oklahoma and stayed with my sister for three weeks and fought tooth and nail with my niece over, of all things, Hostess Twinkies.  Much later in their lives my daughter gave my niece, Amber, a pair of flannel pajamas made from fabric that had what on it---Twinkies!

I was not the only woman who was “moving Heaven and Earth” to get a degree that would inevitably make life better for our families.  Those last few semesters there were at least five of us who met in the grocery store parking lot and all piled in to one car to make the trip to Denton.  Gas was after all nearly sixty cents a gallon! We studied; we sought out child-rearing advice from each other; we shared recipes and job leads and one of us had a boat with a particularly deep hull and we heard ad nauseam about her “deep boat”!  But we encouraged each other.  And I want to mention, no I should actually write a book about the necessity and blessings of having friends that are women. 

There was one day though that will forever be etched in my mind.  That day was the last day of the Fall semester of 1978.  Only Judy McClurkan, Bodie’s cousin, and I had finals that day so we met and rode to Texas Women’s University together.  We were quiet on the drive up, each of us going through mental notes in preparation for a nine o’clock exam.   The weather was particularly bitter cold and the wind was howling and because of this we agreed to meet at the campus bookstore so that if one of us finished earlier than the other we’d not be waiting out in the cold.  After finishing our respective finals and meeting up again we ran for the car.  One of us suggested that we stop at K-Mart on our way out of town and get a celebratory $2.00 platter of nachos that we could share for lunch.  I mean why not splurge?  With the weather getting dicier by the minute, we whipped into a parking place right by the door (my daughter’s friends says that finding such a nearby parking place is like finding a Golden penis.  Yes, even my mother would have appreciated the idea of a Golden penis and she would darn sure have seen the humor in the analogy).  Feeling the need for food and expediency we rushed back to the food section grabbing a huge, cheesy platter of nachos and two Dr. Peppers and madly dashed for her car as sleet bounced off windshields.  We jumped in and Judy turned to me and said, “I know you won’t but, don’t roll your window down because it will not roll back up.”  “OK”, I said never imagining why I would NEED to roll down a window in this weather.   But you know what they say about “never”!  Oh yeah!  About halfway between Lake Worth and Denton I rolled down the window and threw out an exceptionally cheesy napkin because I didn’t dare leave such an item in her car.  On my stars and garters!  I immediately realized my mistake!   That  lowered window would not budge no matter how much I worked the handle.  She looked at me with an expression of pure hatred and patted the bench seat beside her.  Good Gosh Almighty, I did NOT want to sit that close to her when she was that pissed-off at me!  But the sleet flying through that gaping hole felt like someone flinging icy needles into my face.  So we snuggled up and pulled the hoods of our coats up and continued down I-35 in total silence, save the 75 MPH wind rushing through the window.  And I think she would still be angry at me except that when we cruised up to a stop sign, not too far from our destination, a carload of several really good-looking guys wheeled up beside us and started making “kissy faces” and shouting at us.  (Remember this was 1978)  We both looked at each other and literally screamed with laughter!  We drove into the Albertson’s Supermarket parking lot and frightened the woman in the car next to mine with peals of hysterical guffaws!  Tears streamed down our faces and I got the hiccups.  But Lord Have Mercy what an experience and how funny that was!  And all for the pursuit of higher learning.

I’m forever grateful to all the dear souls in my life that made it possible for me to get the sheepskin and for me it has certainly paid off in spades.  But life is the real education!  And as  the old saying goes, “We can do this the hard way or we can do this my way”.   I choose my way.  And that means finding the humor in a situation.  Life too often gives us no choices but the hard way.  If a little laughter makes it more tolerable why not laugh!

I hope that an education has made it such that neither of us ever find ourselves having to ride for very long in a car with a broken window in a winter storm or with no air conditioning in a broiling Texas summer. But for her grandchildren and mine, I hope they at least ONCE drive into “student parking” with no air conditioning or a broken window.   I hope they have to ONCE choose buying a used college text book over a new pair of shoes.   I hope they have to at least ONCE get up early or stay late to finish a job before they can attend classes.  I hope they must at least ONCE have to choose between going to bed when you are bone-tired and studying for a history test.  In fact, I know that Judy and I had to, more than ONCE, study for a test after putting a child with chicken pox or a snotty nose and sore throat into bed with tired husbands, while placing a jar of Calamine lotion or a bottle of children’s Robitussin on the nightstand.  And we did this while folding a load of laundry.  But for her grandchildren and mine, I hope they do get to do these things just ONCE and I pray that just once is enough so that they can truly appreciate the opportunity they have been given---an education that no one can ever take away.  And Judy and I were not the only women who did this.  We were just two of millions of the modern-day pioneer women---the girls of the ‘60s who became women and mothers and wives and employees of the ‘70s.  We were the Boomer women---the ones whose idea was not ---“you could have it all”---rather we realized you CAN indeed have it all, just not all at the same time! 

Rudyard Kipling once wrote the poem “If” about how to be a man.  And here is my version about how to be a woman.

                                                        “Not If-- But When”

When you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

When you can trust yourself when everyone else doubts you,

But smile in the face of their doubts;

When you can summon the strength to be patient,

And not be worn through with the effort

Or of being disliked, even momentarily, by the very ones you love the most

And yet look damn good and talk with wisdom and courage;

When you can dream and believe in the reality of such dreams;

When you think and make those thoughts desire;

When you meet with Triumph and Disaster

And meet the two experiences with grace and aplomb;

When you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by those who seek to bring you to your knees

Or watch the ideas you’ve given your life to, broken

Yet stoop to rebuild them from the shattered pieces;

When you can make a heap of all your winnings

Lose it all in one fell swoop, and start again from the ashes of the ruins;

When you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To follow your will long after they are gone,

And hold on when there is nothing left in you

Except the will which says to you: “Hold on”!

When you can talk with scoundrels and keep your virtue,

Whether walking with Queens, beggars or children—never losing the human touch,

When foe or friends can hurt you, yet you can forgive each in equal time,

When all can count on you, but none too much;

When you can fill the unforgiving moment

With sixty seconds worth of empathy,

Yours is the Earth and everything in it

And--- which is more---you’ll be an EDUCATED WOMAN, my daughters!   

I just want to add that I believe education is a lifelong aspiration.  I and so many of us are still aspiring.  As with life—it is not the destination, but the journey! 

One of my favorite quotes about women is “Good women—may we know them; may we be them; may we raise them.”

The Importance of Education

I’m always writing something and the prerequisite for committing my thoughts to paper is that I would not be ashamed if my kids, my granddaughters or my mother were to see it.  And while Momma has moved on to her Heavenly home and my own kids know me too well to be very surprised at anything I say and/or do, my granddaughters are still somewhat impressed with me  and are just as likely to find things not meant for their edification as I was at their ages.  I remember prowling in my parent’s attic once and hitting the jackpot—Daddy’s love letters to momma while he was in Guam in 1945.  He innocently professed his undying love for my mother in the most poignant prose and it was completely G-rated (“cause that’s how they did things back then”).  However, when you are thirteen, seeing that kinda mushy stuff involving your parents is completely disgusting!  Of course I shared it with my siblings and we giggled and told our neighbors and caused my parents some blushing explanations and I got a stern lecture about not “getting into other people’s business”.  Ok, now I’m completely off course for the subject of this story.  I’ll rein it in!
Let me try this again.  I want to write a little piece that will reflect well on the value of an education and how that most things worth doing are never without a certain amount of effort.  I’ll start by explaining that while I do have a M. ED in guidance and counseling, it was that first degree in elementary education, that took me seven years to attain.  Yes, I was on the seven year, two babies and a sick husband plan.   Some semesters Bodie, my husband and greatest cheerleader, had to be admitted to Scott & White Hospital due to uncontrolled Chron’s Disease.     While I was there with him my sister, my sisters-in-law and/or Bodie’s mother would care for our kids.  I can never repay this debt of gratitude!  This was early on in my quest for a higher education.  I often had to drop the six hours I was enrolled for and try it again during another semester.  In 1973, I was enrolled at Weatherford College taking British Literature and Child Growth and Development when I went in to labor two weeks early and Ashley was born April 24^th---two weeks before the semester ended.  When I called my professors both said they would take the grade I had and Dr. Johnson, said that he would just allow my “first-hand experience” to stand as my final exam in my Child Development class.  Both he and Janine Irby wished me the best.  I made two A’s and acquired six more hours toward my degree.  Whew!  After that I took a year or so off to be a full-time momma but never giving up my desire for an education. 
Most years I went just part-time until the last forty five hours or so and by then Matt was in school and Ashley went to Mother’s Day Out at our church so I could devote all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays to classes.  The last summer session before I graduated both kids went to Oklahoma and stayed with my sister for three weeks and fought tooth and nail with my niece over, of all things, Hostess Twinkies.  Much later in their lives my daughter gave my niece, Amber, a pair of flannel pajamas made from fabric that had what on it---Twinkies!
I was not the only woman who was “moving Heaven and Earth” to get a degree that would inevitably make life better for our families.  Those last few semesters there were at least five of us who met in the grocery store parking lot and all piled in to one car to make the trip to Denton.  Gas was after all nearly sixty cents a gallon! We studied; we sought out child-rearing advice from each other; we shared recipes and job leads and one of us had a boat with a particularly deep hull and we heard ad nauseam about her “deep boat”!  But we encouraged each other.  And I want to mention, no I should actually write a book about the necessity and blessings of having friends that are women. 
There was one day though that will forever be etched in my mind.  That day was the last day of the Fall semester of 1978.  Only Judy McClurkan, Bodie’s cousin, and I had finals that day so we met and rode to Texas Women’s University together.  We were quiet on the drive up, each of us going through mental notes in preparation for a nine o’clock exam.   The weather was particularly bitter cold and the wind was howling and because of this we agreed to meet at the campus bookstore so that if one of us finished earlier than the other we’d not be waiting out in the cold.  After finishing our respective finals and meeting up again we ran for the car.  One of us suggested that we stop at K-Mart on our way out of town and get a celebratory $2.00 platter of nachos that we could share for lunch.  I mean why not splurge?  With the weather getting dicier by the minute, we whipped into a parking place right by the door (my daughter’s friends says that finding such a nearby parking place is like finding a Golden penis.  Yes, even my mother would have appreciated the idea of a Golden penis and she would darn sure have seen the humor in the analogy).  Feeling the need for food and expediency we rushed back to the food section grabbing a huge, cheesy platter of nachos and two Dr. Peppers and madly dashed for her car as sleet bounced off windshields.  We jumped in and Judy turned to me and said, “I know you won’t but, don’t roll your window down because it will not roll back up.”  “OK”, I said never imagining why I would NEED to roll down a window in this weather.   But you know what they say about “never”!  Oh yeah!  About halfway between Lake Worth and Denton I rolled down the window and threw out an exceptionally cheesy napkin because I didn’t dare leave such an item in her car.  On my stars and garters!  I immediately realized my mistake!   That  lowered window would not budge no matter how much I worked the handle.  She looked at me with an expression of pure hatred and patted the bench seat beside her.  Good Gosh Almighty, I did NOT want to sit that close to her when she was that pissed-off at me!  But the sleet flying through that gaping hole felt like someone flinging icy needles into my face.  So we snuggled up and pulled the hoods of our coats up and continued down I-35 in total silence, save the 75 MPH wind rushing through the window.  And I think she would still be angry at me except that when we cruised up to a stop sign, not too far from our destination, a carload of several really good-looking guys wheeled up beside us and started making “kissy faces” and shouting at us.  (Remember this was 1978)  We both looked at each other and literally screamed with laughter!  We drove into the Albertson’s Supermarket parking lot and frightened the woman in the car next to mine with peals of hysterical guffaws!  Tears streamed down our faces and I got the hiccups.  But Lord Have Mercy what an experience and how funny that was!  And all for the pursuit of higher learning.
I’m forever grateful to all the dear souls in my life that made it possible for me to get the sheepskin and for me it has certainly paid off in spades.  But life is the real education!  And as  the old saying goes, “We can do this the hard way or we can do this my way”.   I choose my way.  And that means finding the humor in a situation.  Life too often gives us no choices but the hard way.  If a little laughter makes it more tolerable why not laugh!
I hope that an education has made it such that neither of us ever find ourselves having to ride for very long in a car with a broken window in a winter storm or with no air conditioning in a broiling Texas summer. But for her grandchildren and mine, I hope they at least ONCE drive into “student parking” with no air conditioning or a broken window.   I hope they have to ONCE choose buying a used college text book over a new pair of shoes.   I hope they have to at least ONCE get up early or stay late to finish a job before they can attend classes.  I hope they must at least ONCE have to choose between going to bed when you are bone-tired and studying for a history test.  In fact, I know that Judy and I had to, more than ONCE, study for a test after putting a child with chicken pox or a snotty nose and sore throat into bed with tired husbands, while placing a jar of Calamine lotion or a bottle of children’s Robitussin on the nightstand.  And we did this while folding a load of laundry.  But for her grandchildren and mine, I hope they do get to do these things just ONCE and I pray that just once is enough so that they can truly appreciate the opportunity they have been given---an education that no one can ever take away.  And Judy and I were not the only women who did this.  We were just two of millions of the modern-day pioneer women---the girls of the ‘60s who became women and mothers and wives and employees of the ‘70s.  We were the Boomer women---the ones whose idea was not ---“you could have it all”---rather we realized you CAN indeed have it all, just not all at the same time! 
Rudyard Kipling once wrote the poem “If” about how to be a man.  And here is my version about how to be a woman.
                                                        “Not If-- But When”

When you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
When you can trust yourself when everyone else doubts you,
But smile in the face of their doubts;
When you can summon the strength to be patient,
And not be worn through with the effort
Or of being disliked, even momentarily, by the very ones you love the most
And yet look damn good and talk with wisdom and courage;

When you can dream and believe in the reality of such dreams;
When you think and make those thoughts desire;
When you meet with Triumph and Disaster
And meet the two experiences with grace and aplomb;
When you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by those who seek to bring you to your knees
Or watch the ideas you’ve given your life to, broken
Yet stoop to rebuild them from the shattered pieces;

When you can make a heap of all your winnings
Lose it all in one fell swoop, and start again from the ashes of the ruins;
When you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To follow your will long after they are gone,
And hold on when there is nothing left in you
Except the will which says to you: “Hold on”!

When you can talk with scoundrels and keep your virtue,
Whether walking with Queens, beggars or children—never losing the human touch,
When foe or friends can hurt you, yet you can forgive each in equal time,
When all can count on you, but none too much;
When you can fill the unforgiving moment
With sixty seconds worth of empathy,
Yours is the Earth and everything in it
And--- which is more---you’ll be an EDUCATED WOMAN, my daughters!   

I just want to add that I believe education is a lifelong aspiration.  I and so many of us are still aspiring.  As with life—it is not the destination, but the journey! 
One of my favorite quotes about women is “Good women—may we know them; may we be them; may we raise them.”