Going Back to College
It’s been 25 years since I last attended any college classes. At that time I would take one or two courses at night while Kevin was home with the kids. I accumulated 26 credits before I stopped going. We relocated from Oklahoma to California and I just never thought about going again. Kevin began pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at Cal State Long Beach at night and I just focused on being a “Stay-at-home-mom”…my true dream job. I was never career oriented so I never thought twice about going back to school.
Once the kids were in school full-time I thought it was time to do something so I just went back to work part-time. That eventually turned into full-time.
Then the “Great Depressing Recession” hit the California construction economy in a big way and in October of 2008 I was laid off from my job of 8 1/2 years with Lucas and Mercier Construction, a residential home framing company. Throughout all of my years in the working industry I wound up focusing on Accounting related positions in one form or another. Once laid-off it made it a great challenge to find another job. There are a million accounting clerks out there, many who are much younger than I am, which is apparent once my resume is reviewed.
I became a “99 Weeker”. I was blessed in the fact that if I was going to be laid-off and had to rely on Unemployment Compensation, the timing was perfect. It’s crazy how fast 99 weeks can go by. It’s also very humbling to realize that you are no longer in demand, have no real special talents and are not getting any younger.
That is when I decided that going back to college to pursue a Medical Assisting program was the way to go for me. It was somewhat of a daunting idea. But, the application and admission process was very simple since everything is an online process. Before I knew it I had decided the direction I want to go and had applied, was accepted and registered for my first semester of classes.
My brain can actually handle it. That was something I was very happy to find out. Learning and remembering and being tested on vast amounts of knowledge was still doable. It is interesting to see that I’m not the only “PSC” – “Pre-Senior Citizen in the group. There are others that have been laid-off and have the same idea as me, the Medical field seems like the way to go…a field of possible job opportunities.
So we’ll see. So far, so good. I’ve also learned that being on the planet for a few more years actually does have its perks…you just pick up more knowledge as you go…especially if its something about the medical field!
