My Mother's Bravery

Lots of photos today the first and second pictures are my card from President Hargrave of East Central University. The good Shelley Ross Hamby presented him with the blog “How Much to Give” and he mailed this card to me!  I was honored to be sure.  It is so powerful to me that this simple little blog is making it so much farther than I ever dreamed.  Thank you my faithful readers!  It really means to the world to me and I consider blogging to be one of the major parts of my day.

The third is a collage of photos from convocation (which included the ivy ceremony… this was described in the blog “How Much to Give” from a couple of days ago).  I got “pic-ed” (Isn’t that a ‘punny’ word?) twice!  I was thrilled because the ceremony meant so much to me that I am glad to represent in in pictorial form.

Today was a very relaxing day as most of my Tuesdays and Thursdays are.  I don’t have class until 11:00, and then it is what I consider the more interesting of my classes as today was Modern Philosophy, Greek, and Freshman Seminar.  So this morning I woke up late (well, 7:30, but it’s kind of late to me), I read for my Academic Writing and Research homework, wrote my daily three letters (which if you want me to write to you, just send me your address OR write me first!  I will reply!!), and I ate a bagel in my room as I thought about what I would blog today.  I ultimately ran out of time, so it was in vain anyhow. 

I’m glad I didn’t start because it was when I was sitting down in the swivel chairs of 205 Burgess Hall that it came to me.  I was pondering the things going around me, looking at all of the youthful faces and listening to the conversations.  I suddenly thought, “I have not a clue how a non-traditional student would do this!”

Then I remembered that my mother was a non-traditional student.  She started her college career long after it was considered normal- she was a wife and a mother, really in the height of her “prime” instead of just starting out, which is when we usually think of people going to college.  She worked and raised babies before going after a degree and a career.

I could barely understand what the students around me were saying, how could my mother have understood what these people were talking being in her early forties?  The way these young adults dressed was so foreign to me, what would it have been like to her who could easily have been some of these kid’s mother? 

In that moment I gained a lot of respect for my mom.  How difficult it must have been to be in an environment every day when you’re not only compared with people of the younger generation but you are actually expected to live in and among them.  My mother was brave to go to school as a non-traditional student.

Who would she have sat with?  With people that could have been my older brothers and sisters?  Would she have tried to seek out other older students that knew where she came from in life?  Where in the classroom would she have placed herself- up front to prove her intent to do this thing called college or in the back so she would not be seen and her significant difference not known?  Would the professors have taken her less seriously or more so because she had to want it to go at that age? 

Not only did I feel a connection with Mom that I haven’t felt in years, I also gained so much compassion for her and all non-traditional students.  When I think of all the campus groups, activities, clubs, and other organizations designed for student outreach, I wonder what’s there for those that came to school later in life.  Is there anything?  If not, why not? 

Students should be trying to reach out with these older and much wiser students.  They have years behind them- educational meat on their bones, if you will.  They know what life is like without a college degree, there’s a reason they came back!  As I gain compassion for these students that so often lurk in the shadows of education, I hope that God will show me a way that I can reach out to them and for them.

Today in class, just for a moment, if felt like Mom was sitting next to me.  It was a good class; she had a lot to say.