My ten year degree

Here's what I had to write in order to prove to the college board at Southern Nazarene that I could read and write... and kiss a little butt. It worked, I'm finishing a degree in Organizational Leadership now. My appologies to Matt and Jesse for ommiting their input on leaving Austin and not joining the Navy from the story. I was only supposed to write a page or page and a half to summarize. This was almost three. I'll get the story straight for the book.

Only obituary writers find boiling down years of detail into concise, simple statements an easy task. I imagine they avoid conversation at parties. Sadly, I once found myself having to do their job for my cousin’s eulogy. He died at age twenty-two. That statement pretty much boils his life down to the bare minimum. No mention of the good times, bad times, awards, honors, friends or family. None of the good stuff as it were, just the facts. Perhaps now would be a good time to take up thier skill once again in discussing the ongoing “labor of love” that is my education. Fortunately, details can be filled in at a later date.
The month of May marks ten years since my successful graduation from high school. Ten years is a decade; what a long one this has been. Long yes, but not filled with tedium, just spiked with moments of lethargy, revelry, and “No-pants-Tuesdays” in-between the many different job and career changes. I started out as a junior college student/assistant youth pastor, dropped the pastoring in favor of a night stocking job, then dropped the student part. My younger brothers were accepted to Stephen F. Austin State U. located in the East Texas hamlet of Nacogdoches not long after our cousin died. I felt a change of scenery would be a good thing, help clear out the cobwebs as it were, and gladly followed their lead.
After two and a half years of whiffling attendance, endless job duties as a resident assistant/hall director/Wal-Mart stocker, and consuming the horrid campus cuisine, I left SFA for home in Houston. Actually, to say I was “enticed” away from school, albeit willingly, more accurately describes the scene. My father called up with a job offer to work for an online mall earning $20,000/yr, full medical benefits, and air conditioning. Any job shielded from the humid Houston heat is desirable. Now I was twenty-two years old; the prospect of earning that much money at any given time held much more sway than the uncertain eventualities arising from a college education. I packed up my white van, moved into my parents’ dining room, and shared with my brothers the prosperity a solid nine-to-five business world course provides. Eight months later the company went under. I was readily unemployed.
Chalk it up to delirium, but returning to college right away, which would have been the right decision, was not an option. Disgust with the World Wide Web and computers in general had me wondering why I ever chose a CIS degree in the first place. Truck driving school somehow seemed the answer to my problems. The road would provide the guidance I so desperately needed as well as income, a way out of the house, and balm for my burgeoning need of adventure. Six months after graduating first in class from the “rigorous” three week, $5000 program, I found myself back in Houston, thankfully sans employment with many stories to tell. I worked construction with my neighbor across the street until my sister-in-law’s brother, who also happens to be a friend of mine from high school, hired me to work at the pool supply store he managed. After two years of towing the company line and managing the store in South Austin, my brother (God love him!) sensed a stall in my enthusiasm for retail pool sales. This past September, at his behest, I left the chlorinated air of my shop for the quaint, yet slightly awkward Oklahoma City area to live with him and my sister-in-law while finishing school at Southern Nazarene.
My brother, an SNU alumnus, invited me to one of his classes wherein I saw the Adult Studies program was not some kind of get rich quick scheme (i.e. trucking school), but a place for people who were serious about bettering themselves. Challenging course loads and student/teacher interactions are two items sorely missed from my daily routine. Real career options are going to come from having a degree, and so will furthering my education in a masters program. I finally have the opportunity to acquire the title of “Educated” and that is exciting!