Enjoying the journey (not just the destination)

I graduated from college this year which was a long time coming. You see, I did what I was supposed to do, I applied to colleges my senior year in high school and was accepted at every place I applied. I chose to go to Western Washington University for several reasons. It was a state school so I could almost afford it, it was small, it didn't have a Greek system, it was far enough away from home that I could get away from my parents but close enough that I could also come home on the weekends if I wanted to, it had a really great program in what I wanted to study, and most importantly it felt right, when I came to visit the campus I felt like that was where I was meant to be.

After two years there though, I'd changed my major three or four times and still hadn't settled what I wanted to do. I was aimless and in debt so I quit school and went to work full time. Everyone I knew would subtly or sometimes not so subtly ask me when I planned to finish, but I just didn't know what kind of degree I wanted to get or what purpose getting a degree in something just to have a degree would really serve. There was one person though who really wanted to see me back in school, not because she thought it was important for me to get a degree, but because she loved to learn and she could see that I did too.

She was like family to me. Actually that's not the best way to put it since her whole family was like family to me as I was dating and later living with her nephew (for over 7 years). She was more than just a surrogate aunt to me though. She was an inspiration.

I met her shortly before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but the way she handled that wasn't the reason she inspired me so much, though she had more spark in her all through her fight with cancer than anyone else I've known before or since. What inspired me so much about her was the way she did things for the pure enjoyment they brought her, and it just so happened that two of the things she enjoyed were teaching and learning. She had multiple degrees (Bachelors, Masters in Education, JD) and she was certainly not using them all (in the practical sense).

One of the last times I saw her she was at the hospital, where I worked, for a chemo treatment and she came down and had lunch with me. At the time I was taking a real estate class, just for fun. She told me that she couldn't understand why I didn't go back to college. Here I was, the kind of person who would take a class just for fun (as I'd done with screenwriting, real estate, and visual basic at that point), but I wouldn't go back to school because I wasn't sure what I should major in that would make me better able to get ahead in life.

I finally decided that I should go back to school, not to get a degree, but because I liked school, I liked learning, and I could go back and take classes in things I wanted to learn about and maybe those classes would make up a degree and maybe they wouldn't but I'd be doing something that I loved. Unfortunately, she passed away before she could see me back in school, before I could tell her that she's the reason I found my way back to something I've loved as long as I can remember.

There were a lot of people who supported me, and pressured me, and inspired me down my path to higher education, but none so much as Christine. The idea that not everything has to be a stepping stone, that some steps can be enjoyed just for what they are and not for where they lead, is so important to me and she's the one that taught me that. I got my degree in English and it's probably not going to help me get ahead in life, but I really loved getting it.