The picture to the left was taken from inside Kelly’s Ford Fiesta as we entered Arizona on our way to take Christian to Arizona State University and Kelly to University of Washington. We had a great time, but the trip was filled with melancholy. This trip really marks the end of the family’s educational journey and the beginning of Kelly’s and Christian’s individual education/vocational paths. They will be at different schools in different towns over 1400 miles from each other and over 2000 miles from our home in North Carolina for the first time ever.
I have told the kids for many years that they will have finished their educational path when they they receive their Bachelors Degree in a hard subject. After that “getting on with life” starts. Our plan was that the kids would be responsible for any further education and start making their own way. If they wanted to go on to graduate school they would take that on themselves. I would probably have helped them as much as possible, but thankfully that both got funded degree programs, so in a very real sense they are going to work as much as they are continuing school.
I think the reality of the “getting on with life” thing is sinking in with all of us–probably especially with Lorena and I–as the kids work on finding apartments, organizing transportation, and setting up households. They have jobs that (barely) pay them enough to rent an apartment and feed themselves along with all the same kinds of responsibilities and benefits associated with jobs that do not include formal learning as a student as part of their duty.
With all this, Lorena and I still struggle with what to do next. I have decided to keep writing for awhile.
Betty Blonde #134 – 01/20/2009
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