Well, fast forward fifteen years, and I realized my liberal arts degree with no focus has not gotten me where I needed to go. I have managed and worked for Enterprise, and I managed a portrait studio for several years. Now, I get the luxury of being a stay at home, for which I am eternally grateful.
However, my kids are getting older now. While there is no urgent need for me to go back to work, I want to refine my skills a little, so if I ever need to go back to work I won't be in the same situation. Always an arts minded person, I never thought about the tech world. I am married to a programmer, yet I always seemed to dismiss that as 'his' work. For my entire life, I put myself in the none "math" box. Realizing this cuts me off from the ENTIRE world, this has been quite a mistake.
So, after my careful consideration of what I have done most of my life, I realized web development and design is in my future. In high school and college, I loved arranging the publications on the computer. Design arrangement on any kind of brochure, flyer, website, newspaper, or anywhere has always been fun for me. I enjoy making those quotes you see on Facebook with a picture.
Talking to my husband, who directed me to udacity. #udacity is awesome! I realized I can do this. HTML is not that difficult, and actually quite fun. Learning the design rules on arrangement and typography will make what I love to do make even more sense. Finally, I'm excited to create something just from my own imagination. I have been self teaching with udacity to make sure this is something I am truly comfortable doing. (And I LOVE IT)
Since I have no work experience, we decided to have me try for a degree. Thankfully, I do qualify for the Pell grant this year, so I will be able to do it at little to no cost to us. So, off to the college I went, and I almost felt like I was going to throw up. All the fresh faced, trendy student walking around with their backpacks and phones. I was like OMG can I do this again? Debating whether or not I can handle a full load of classes, it has been 15 years since I was last there! Why would I really need to spend $200 on any book?? All of these things have been spiraling through my mind. I already have a degree, so the stress of making sure my current credits transfer has also been exciting as well.
So, am I too old for this? maybe.. But, will I still try? yes. We aren't sure if I will qualify for financial aid next year, so this seems to be my year. I'm terrified as I don't see the world through those fresh faced pair of eyes. No, I see the face through eyes that have seen life, laughter, and tears. Eyes that have woken up early, and stayed up late with a sick or scared child. Well, these eyes won't let me down as they attempt to learn an entire new skill.