It’s time to move on again.

 

             

I am cursed with two conflicting desires.  I wake up every morning wanting to move forward and experience something new, but at the same time I want to stay right where I am, safe and sound.  I find myself a safe little burrow, move in and prepare to be content, but I am never content for long.  Soon, I peek my nose out of this safe little place and wonder what is going on out in the big wide world.

The time has come to move forward once again, I have resisted as long as I can, but now I must move on.  When I finished my final exam in Geography, I thanked Professor Reck for teaching such an interesting class, and as I walked out of the door, it hit me.  I really was finished.  This was the end of my last class at Golden West College.

I still remember that first day and my very first class, I was so scared, and so unsure.  I wondered if I had what it took to succeed in college, and if I was as smart as I thought I was.  I was so afraid that I would be left behind and that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with all the young people in my classes.  

Well, I did keep up and now I have earned my Associates Degree, or I will have it as soon as they make it official.  On one of my last days at the school, I took a victory lap and walked around the entire campus.  I stopped a moment at every one of my class rooms, and remembered the journey. 

There were times that I felt like I was on top of the world and other days when I so low that I wondered why I was doing this to myself.   Algebra kicked my ass and nearly did me in (Sorry Mr. Lloyd), but when I finished it the victory was so much sweeter because it was so hard won! 

My English teacher Ryane Granados finally convinced me I could write.  She helped me get my paper accepted at the 2010 Honors Conference, and told me that when she read my paper she told herself, “This one can write.”   Then my Journalism teacher Jim Tortolano put the icing on the cake when he published all of my articles in the student newspaper.

But, now it is time to start again, and leave this place that has become so comfortable and safe.

It’s time to move on.