fugue: going the distance
sunday, june 9, 2002


i graduate this week. i won't be walking, and i do have 2 papers to finalize a class from last quarter, but, essentially, i'm done. next sunday i will officially have a b.a. in english/creative writing and have graduated with honors.

wow.

it's been quite a trip to get here. i started classes out of high school and had lots of problems: i wasn't interested, my mother chose my major, i had physical problems. i decided to take a break. that break ended up being 10 years long.

when i went back, i did it because i was getting a divorce and i knew, to support my kids, i need an education. i majored in early childhood studies, graduating with an a.a. and honors. when i transferred to my new university, the "go get a job" people wanted to remove me from college. i persevered and stayed on. a little over a year later i ended having to take another break. that loa lasted 18 months, but i finally went back again. went back and finished.

it hasn't been easy, particularly recently. have you ever gotten to a point where you NEED to move on? i was there last quarter. this quarter i didn't just need to move on, i am so damn tired and burned out it is amazing i can even still stand. i need a break so bad that my body began trying to enforce one in the middle of hell week (that lovely term we use for the week before finals). ion top of that, the masters program i REALLY wanted rejected my application. i almost quit right then.

but i didn't. this is it. 1 class, 1 short story, 1 poem, and 1 final. that's it. then, saturday, the graduating class walks. i've done it. i'm done. i went the distance, didn't give up, and I'VE FINISHED!

and, this week, after talking with hubby, we've decided to let me go the distance on my dream. if it takes applying to every low residency masters of fine arts creative writing program in existence, i am going to get my mfa.

i went the distance for my b.a. i can do it for my m.f.a. and i'll graduate with honors from that too. :)