School 'scool

Wow - I'm bushed. I mean physically and mentally tired, and the reason is, I think, that I may be trying to educate myself beyond reasonable limits.

In an effort to "find money" to ward off the IRS who were hounding me for some strong disagreements about positions on taxable income, I decided to go back to school. I know - you are probably a little confused. Really, it is simpler than it sounds.

I sign up for school - in this case an MBA program offered by the main on-line university 'round here. I apply for Student Loans. I get the money up front. Tuition is deferred - I will pay it later. I give the money to the IRS and they are off my back.

Friends - it is this kind of thinking that got me in trouble in the first place. Nothing works like I think it will. The money does not come to me. It stays in a "holding tank" until needed. I borrow from my Mother to pay Uncle Sam, and then I am still enrolled in school. Sheeeeesh.

Well school is tough. It is a lot of work. I am a perfectionist - must get all 'A's. I do. Seems like it will take forever. It doesn't. Exactly 21 months later as advertised, I am walking across the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington DC and collecting my diploma for a Masters in Business Administration. How cool is that?

So cool, that I immediately enroll for a doctorate in organizational management. I have completed 1 of 3 years for this degree, and the really hard work is yet in front of me. I wake up tired. Go through the day tired. Go to bed tired. You see, I manage dynamic family relationships, life activities, a full time job, and a 2.5 hour one-way commute to work each and every day. (That's right - 5 hours commuting every day).

So I have a right to be tired. But one thing I recognize is that the degree will come, and the sense of achievement, and the increased self and marketplace value. I will have accomplished another goal in this journey of life, and will rub my eyes in disbelief that this late-bloomer has been able to do it once again.

I keep saying to anyone that will listen that once done with this I "will never go back to school. Not no how, not no way." But the reality is that as long as I want to learn of something or how to do something, I will continue to seek education. I think that I am simply a perpetual student.

And that's OK. School's cool.