18 Again (Or Something Like It)

So, as I mentioned, I'm going to be thirty-one next month and I'm starting my sophomore year in college.  Me and a few thousand other people, especially with the economy being as it is.  Lots of adults are going back to college to get degrees for new lines of work, or for advancement in their existing lines of work.  But there's a difference between me and them.  Most of them are working either part or full time, and many of them have spouses and/or children.

I, on the other hand, am intentionally unemployed for the first time since I was seventeen.  I'm unemployed and in school.  I have no real responsibilities beyond my homework.  I spend my free time playing video games or watching DVDs with my boyfriend (who is, as I've mentioned, ever so kindly footing the bills).  My life at this exact moment is not concretely different than the lives of my fellow sophomores.

That's what's so odd about this.  I've worked all my life, trying to pay my own way as much as I could.  I didn't want to go to college right out of high school, because I didn't think I needed it.  Then, once I realized that I did, it seemed like it was too late.  So I kept working.  I kept working, and getting more and more miserable until everything seemed like it was about to explode.

And then, suddenly, I got the chance to go back and try again.  I'm living my life the same way I would have if I'd gone to college at the "appropriate" age.  No extra burdens of job or family (because my boyfriend is at the school and as focused on these things as I am).  I'm doing what thousands of other adults are doing, but I'm doing it without having to do more.

I am insanely lucky.  Yes, I'm poor.  Absolutely.  We don't starve, but we certainly have to budget very carefully.  That's about the only downside here.  I've been able to experience college the way it's supposed to be experienced, and as an added bonus I've gotten to bring an extra twelve years of life experience into it with me.  I'm getting more out of this experience than a lot of the younger kids.  I am so ridiculously lucky, I can't possibly express it.  No matter what happens from here on out, I've gotten this extraordinary experience and it's fabulous.  And we can all thank my boyfriend for making this possible for me.

By the way, I hope y'all are enjoying these upbeat and optimistic posts.  Once the semester starts and homework starts to get difficult (and things like that), you can probably expect a bit more sarcasm and kvetching.  So, you know, heads up.