Wow!!! I can't believe it's already the halfway point of the term. So excited to know that I only one year away from graduation; six months ahead of schedule. I can't believe that at 33 and four kids later I'm back in school getting my degree. I guess when Mike died, I knew change would come, but not like this. I loved my last job, but the harrassment from another employee just became more than I could handle. I still remember the day I got the phone call from Kaplan. I had actually been ignoring their phone calls for almost two months. Then one day I answered it by accident, but now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't an accident. So there i was on the phone and the next thing I knew I was enrolling in school and doing my financial aid application and signing up for classes. Even more mind boggling than that was the term was starting the next day. I remember getting off the phone about 3 hours later and thinking, "what did I just do?" Now I'm almost through my fourth term and only have four terms left. I am halfway through. When I first told my kids I was going back to school they laughed and thought I was too old. Now, they are my biggest supporters. They are so proud of me and even posted pictures of me with my certificates on the social pages. My son tells me all the time how excited he is for me. I've had really good paying jobs over the years without a college degree, but this is different. Having my degree and certification means I'm going to have a career and in a world and economy like today's, nothing tops that. Jobs come and go, but careers are earned. That's not to say that all of this has been easy. After 16 years of being out of school it's hard getting back into a routine again. Homework was supposed to be a thing of the past and now it's a daily thing. What makes it even more weird is doing it all online. Who would of thought?! I love it this way as it makes it easy for me to work around my schedule and my kids' schedule, but I'm a people person and miss interaction with my classmates. Some of my best friends were made in school. Even with these little things I don't get, I am more grateful from the things I am getting by being back in school. I will be even more grateful and feel more accomplished when I graduate and walk in the ceremony. Chicago, here I come!