Trials and Tribulations of Going Back to School After Thirty

I truly thought it would be easier than this...

This past August, I quit my job at an automobile parts manufacturing company that employed me for nearly fourteen years. My wife had just refused admittance into nursing school, having been presented with a supervisory position, (a chance to use the college degree in business she had obtained over a decade before). My job, as well as the factory itself, seemed to be slipping away, prompting us to make a rather risky decision: It was now my turn to go to college and work at the warehouse that my wife had been employed for over a year.

Here I was, thirty-three years old and a U.S. Army reject, leaving a full-time position to become a full-time student while working a weekend, part-time job that was not a guaranteed prospect.

I registered for Electrical Technology classes at Southern State Community College one day after being offered, and accepting, my position as an Order Filler at the distribution center warehouse for the leading retail store in the world. The job description seemed easy enough and, since it was the same job that my wife had held onto for over nine months before becoming supervisor, I was sold on the idea that I would do well at it. After all - I am an experienced weight lifter and I can move around fairly well...How damn hard could it have been?

I started classes the following September. English Composition I; Introduction to Basic Engineering; Basic Computer Programming; Engineering Drawing I, and Technical Mathematics. Upon my arrival in my first class, a fellow student asked me, "How many credit hours are you doing?" I learned that this lady, (who appeared to be near my own age), was Catholic when she made the hand to forehead-shoulder-shoulder Crucifix symbol when I answered, "Eighteen credit hours." I also learned, by her gesture, that I may be trying to chew up more than my throat could swallow.