As I get closer and closer to finishing my final class necessary to earn my associate degree at St. Petersburg College, I have to admit that I'm starting to get pretty excited. The anticipation is really building, and to be honest I never thought I'd feel this way when I went into this process. I mean, I'm in my late 40's after all, not a teenager or a 20-something. Earning my first degree is going to be a nice accomplishment. It will certainly help me when it comes to qualifications (if that's ever necessary) and it will show my family -- especially my two teenaged daugthers -- that earning a degree is truly something that I believe is important. I wouldn't want them to use my example and skip the higher education process unless (and this is a big "unless") they get a really great opportunity to advance themselves in their careers and that opportunity absolutely prevents them from pursuing their degrees. That isn't nearly as likely these days as it was in my day, simply because online degree programs mean that a student can attend school and work at the same time with much more ease and success than they used to.
This feeling is interesting. I'm really looking forward to receiving that degree that I once thought of as simply "a piece of paper". I'm going to frame that degree, probably with a really nice frame. I've got dozens of certificates of all sorts and I don't have any of them hanging on the wall -- but you can bet this "piece of paper" is going to go up there, for all to see.
It's a different feeling, that's for sure. It's a feeling that I really didn't expect. Somewhere along the way I changed my outlook on my degree from just something that I feel I need to do to something that I feel is worthy of pride.
It's great.