Starting over!

It is hard to start over!

I guess growing up we learn that we are expected to do certain things at certain times. As a kid and teenager we are told that we have to go to school. At school we learn that is more fun to have friends; we learn a boyfriend is a must in high school! We are told to study hard to get into college. Once in college we are told to study hard to be ready for our future. When our education is successfully completed we are expected to get a job, earn a living, and be successful. Once our career is on the right track, we are expected to make our personal life successful too, to commit and get married, start a family, buy a house, etc.

Most people are lucky and follow the "right" path, the rest of us that somehow get off it, it could become very hard to get back on it again! We have to start from somewhere and that starting point could be difficult!

Obviously I am among the crowd that did not take the expected path and had to start over if I wanted to feel satisfied! I come back to school to bring my education to a level that I am more comfortable with. I have to say, it has been hard for me to sit in classes that I knew everyone was so much younger than me. At first I even thought my teachers were going to be younger than me, but that hasn't happened yet, lol.

In my classes since nobody actually talked to anyone much, it got easy and little by little I forgot about how old I am! But now that I am working in the lab with sociable friendly people, not that I am complaining, lol, but sometimes when I say something I get embarrassed by it!

For example, last week we were talking about the 4th of July celebration. One of my lab mates was very excited to be in the city this year for the first time and was very excited about seeing the fireworks. He asked me if I was excited to go see the fireworks. I told him that I was actually heading out of the town, but told him yes, watching fireworks is exciting. Then I told him that back in 1999 I was working for a company that was located near where the fireworks are played and everyone was invited to watch the fireworks from the rooftop of the building where we worked. I told him it was an amazing site and I had lots of fun that year. Then I remembered back in 1999 my 23 year old lab mate was an 11 year old boy! And now here we are doing more or less the same thing!

I can't wait for the next six months to be over, and successfully, so that I could hopefully be back on a path that maybe I am more comfortable being on.