I can't recall if I have shared this particular thing about myself with all of you, but I didn't go to college. There. I said it! Why is that so difficult to say sometimes?
My senior year of high school was pretty much normal. I made decent grades. They could have been better, but they could have been a lot worse. I would have taken any English class over Math any day! My friends were busy on the weekends filling out scholarships and trying to figure out which college best fit their interest. I tried to jump on the band wagon with them. Really I did, but it just didn't appeal to me. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life at the time. I considered going to beauty school because I have always been obsessed with hair and make up. I also thought about attending a community college and obtaining a degree in business. The community college sounded a bit more promising for me because I didn't want to be away from home. I know! What senior doesn't like to be away from home for more than one night? This girl! Even church camp made me extremely home sick! My parents never once forced me to go to college. My mom always said, "Why force her to go when she doesn't want to? She may just end up coming back home."
I had a job as a receptionist at a salon in our small town and I absolutely loved it! Hence my previous statement about going to beauty school. I was perfectly content working there and decided to stay there until the next opportunity came knocking at my door...which I was hoping wasn't any time soon. Graduation day came and went and, honestly, I couldn't wait for it to be over. I was ready to move on!
The summer ended and most of my classmates went off to college and I was still in our little ole town working at the salon. I was perfectly fine with it. Then that opportunity came knocking at my door. The one I was secretly hoping wouldn't come. Thanks to a friend I was offered a job at a medical provider's office in the big city of Indianapolis. In October of 2003 I began working as a Customer Service Representative taking orders from doctor's offices and hospitals. If a patient was released and needed some type of medical equipment such as, oxygen, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. they called us. I made sure the patient qualified per insurance guidelines and then I verified that they actually had medical insurance. I spent countless hours on the phone with insurance companies, which I'm now glad that I did because I actually understand insurance!
So, here I was 18 and driving to Indy every day for an 8-5 job making money that seemed like a lot to a girl fresh out of school. Plus, I had medical benefits! I will admit, the first few weeks were extremely difficult and I didn't know if I was ready to be thrown out in to the real world, but I stuck it out and I am so glad I did.
I had B in 2005 (Did I mention I graduated in '03, got married in '04, and had a baby in '05? More on that later.) The whole "not going to college thing" never once bothered me until I went to preregister before delivering B. A question on one of the forms was, "What was the highest level of school completed by the patient?" I had to answer 12th grade...high school. Now, I know this is probably just for statistic purposes and hopefully the doctors and nurses didn't look down on me because I didn't go to college, but why does that matter? Is my ability to take care of this baby going to be less than someone who does have a college education? Why does society make us feel like if we don't go to college, then we are less of a person?
B will occasionally bring up college every now and then. Thanks to Toy Story 3 for introducing that to her:) She is already saying that she wants to live at home forever. Now, I for one, hope that she doesn't live at home forever. B is a lot like me and won't stay anywhere over night unless it is at a family member's house or her best friend's so the thought of going away for a week or two at a time completely baffles her. We try to explain that as smart and outgoing as she is, she will probably change her mind and decide to go to college and will love it...maybe a little too much;), but that's hard for me to say because I never had the college life experience and Brad went for about 2 years then came back home to farm because that's where his heart was.
I can't look into the future and, believe me, sometimes I wish I could, but right now I know that I am pretty content with my life even though I don't have that college degree. I may decide I need to go back to school someday, but right now I'm glad my parents didn't force me to go because I might not be where I am today!
My senior year of high school was pretty much normal. I made decent grades. They could have been better, but they could have been a lot worse. I would have taken any English class over Math any day! My friends were busy on the weekends filling out scholarships and trying to figure out which college best fit their interest. I tried to jump on the band wagon with them. Really I did, but it just didn't appeal to me. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life at the time. I considered going to beauty school because I have always been obsessed with hair and make up. I also thought about attending a community college and obtaining a degree in business. The community college sounded a bit more promising for me because I didn't want to be away from home. I know! What senior doesn't like to be away from home for more than one night? This girl! Even church camp made me extremely home sick! My parents never once forced me to go to college. My mom always said, "Why force her to go when she doesn't want to? She may just end up coming back home."
I had a job as a receptionist at a salon in our small town and I absolutely loved it! Hence my previous statement about going to beauty school. I was perfectly content working there and decided to stay there until the next opportunity came knocking at my door...which I was hoping wasn't any time soon. Graduation day came and went and, honestly, I couldn't wait for it to be over. I was ready to move on!
The summer ended and most of my classmates went off to college and I was still in our little ole town working at the salon. I was perfectly fine with it. Then that opportunity came knocking at my door. The one I was secretly hoping wouldn't come. Thanks to a friend I was offered a job at a medical provider's office in the big city of Indianapolis. In October of 2003 I began working as a Customer Service Representative taking orders from doctor's offices and hospitals. If a patient was released and needed some type of medical equipment such as, oxygen, walkers, wheelchairs, etc. they called us. I made sure the patient qualified per insurance guidelines and then I verified that they actually had medical insurance. I spent countless hours on the phone with insurance companies, which I'm now glad that I did because I actually understand insurance!
So, here I was 18 and driving to Indy every day for an 8-5 job making money that seemed like a lot to a girl fresh out of school. Plus, I had medical benefits! I will admit, the first few weeks were extremely difficult and I didn't know if I was ready to be thrown out in to the real world, but I stuck it out and I am so glad I did.
I had B in 2005 (Did I mention I graduated in '03, got married in '04, and had a baby in '05? More on that later.) The whole "not going to college thing" never once bothered me until I went to preregister before delivering B. A question on one of the forms was, "What was the highest level of school completed by the patient?" I had to answer 12th grade...high school. Now, I know this is probably just for statistic purposes and hopefully the doctors and nurses didn't look down on me because I didn't go to college, but why does that matter? Is my ability to take care of this baby going to be less than someone who does have a college education? Why does society make us feel like if we don't go to college, then we are less of a person?
B will occasionally bring up college every now and then. Thanks to Toy Story 3 for introducing that to her:) She is already saying that she wants to live at home forever. Now, I for one, hope that she doesn't live at home forever. B is a lot like me and won't stay anywhere over night unless it is at a family member's house or her best friend's so the thought of going away for a week or two at a time completely baffles her. We try to explain that as smart and outgoing as she is, she will probably change her mind and decide to go to college and will love it...maybe a little too much;), but that's hard for me to say because I never had the college life experience and Brad went for about 2 years then came back home to farm because that's where his heart was.
I can't look into the future and, believe me, sometimes I wish I could, but right now I know that I am pretty content with my life even though I don't have that college degree. I may decide I need to go back to school someday, but right now I'm glad my parents didn't force me to go because I might not be where I am today!
