It should come as no surprise that with an English teacher for a mother, that education was always treated with great importance. However, to my parents credit, they were incredibly open minded as to the educational path choosen. In high school, I had serious dreams of becoming a fashion designer or interior decorator. My excellent math skills and high SAT scores mattered little to me. In my junior year of school, I did not take the normal college prep classes – who needs extra chemistry or pre-calculus classes anyways. Gentle prodding about wasting my talent and abilities along with a career assesment eventually steered me into an engineering degree. But I always remember that if I had truly insisted on a career in fashion they probably would have let me. They knew that I could always return to college for a different degree if the first one didn’t work out. A valuable lesson that I would have never found in any classroom – do overs are always there for those willing to learn from their mistakes.
You mean there’s hope for me yet?
A very valuable lesson indeed.