My Need to Return to School

Ever since I was 12 years old our family had a grocery store business. Some memories are great; others are not. I will always remember the first day the store opened. Mother went to the store at 7:00 that morning and didn’t return until 9:30 at night. I missed her being at home. Mother did this for many years; 7 days a week. Since she wasn’t at home to do the things around the house I got to do them. I remember feeling like I had so much responsibility and my friends had an easy life. I can only imagine how my mother felt.

My younger brother worked with my mother. I took over after he quit. My son helped me with the business. The store provided a good living. The only problem was our lives always centered on work. We never took vacations together because some family member had to be there. Financially our business did great for many years, but all good things come to an end. The famous Wal-Mart came to town. People always go where the best price is. No matter how loyal they said they would be to us; they bought most of their groceries at Wal-Mart.

All of our employees were part-time. Putting up with all of their problems can really take a toll on you. Business was slowing down and I needed to lay everyone off. I really didn’t know what to do. We talked the situation over one night after work. My husband knew I was tired of the store. I was working 50 hours a week and missing a lot of life. We decided to close the store. It was a very difficult decision to make.

I drew my unemployment for a while and applied for many jobs, but no one called me for a job, or even an interview. In the meantime I did things around the house I had needed to do for years. I went to Bible studies and enjoyed my grandchildren.

On a recent visit to the unemployment office for a review a lady asked me if I would like to return to college. When I got home I started thinking about it. The next day I called and made a appointment to talk with a adviser. They told me about the program they offered. It seemed like a great opportunity to go to college. Hopefully now after I go to college I can work at a job that I truly enjoy. I had always contributed to our household income and that had ended. Consequently I needed to get in this program.

Currently I’m preparing for the Compass Test. For this reason I’m coming to the Adult Learning Center. I have been out of school for 39 years and I get nervous thinking of going back. My goal is to be a nurse. This career choice will require a lot of hard work. If this is the Lord’s will for me; it will happen!