One Minute Miracles: Gratitude Letter

I sent a message today; one of extreme gratitude.  I have been thinking a lot this week
about the past as I work on my Visual Journal to the Soul (more on that  later).  And as a result, have been thinking about where I was, where I am now and, more importantly, how I got  here.  One of the best things I  ever did for myself was get an education. 

I started in the early 80s as I worked at a Community   College.  I took a class from time
to time.  I did well and I enjoyed  it so I thought “what the hell” and quit the job, transferring to a four-year   college.  Bad move.   I got overwhelmed and did poorly. 
I decided to move to Virginia and, once here, decided to begin  again.  This time, without a lot of  the “noise” that kept me from doing well the first time (noise in the sense of
physical, mental, emotional and spiritual distractions.)  
 
Anyway, I began again part-time while working and I  managed to finish and finish well. 
My last semester, I worked full-time and took 21 hours.  Yes - that is not a typo.  I
  worked from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm and took classes from 3:45   to 10. Wow, I was tired. 
 
But in 1995, I graduated - Magna Cum Laude - with a  Bachelor’s Degree in English. I wanted to go to law school.   I wanted to write.  Law  school never happened - two kids and a divorce happened instead. But I began to  write and write and write.  I loved  it. Now, I am back on the education  track, going for a Masters in Education.   Wow, I’m tired.  But I love
it still.

 Getting back to the message - I wrote one of the first professors  I ever had at the Community College.  I’m pretty sure she was a feminist; she was uniquely beautiful and always
put-together. She taught women’s studies.   I felt so grown-up in her class. She told us “ladies- men will come and  they will go. But nobody can take away your grades.”   Those words stuck with me to this day.  I realized then, and still do, the  importance of education. Not that it makes a huge difference in jobs (it does)  and salaries (pretty sure) and networking (obviously) but that it’s mine.  Something I did. Something nobody handed me. I earned it. 
I.Earned.It.   
 
So I thought I’d say thanks to one of the people who propelled me  along the way. I’ve had amazing teachers since and I’m sure I will again.  And I hope I remember to say thank you.
So they know their work is not in vain and that the difference they hoped to
make along the way came to fruition. 
It did to me.