Opportunity Knocked Me Over

The inventor Thomas Edison suggested that "The reason a lot of folks don't recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls, disguised as hard work."

I'd like to tell you why this quote speaks to me right now. About nine months ago, opportunity came to my house and turned my world upside down. It came very cleverly disguised as my "ex" leaving me. I'd lived with this person for almost four years and was just beginning to feel safe, and I had been told that if I wanted to quit working and go back to school, I would be supported 100%.

I'm sure you can probably guess what happened. About two weeks after I'd quit my job, I was informed that it was necessary to "back out of the relationship." Those were the exact words: "back out." Sounds kind of sneaky and underhanded, doesn't it? Yes. Well, I thought so, too, so naturally I asked why. And naturally, the answer came back that there was someone else in the picture.

FINE, I said. GET OUT, I said. Then I calmly began to pack up some things and set them outside.

I won't go any further into the ensuing melodrama of this little episode. I will say that simply finding the courage just to apply to school again after a 23-year absence was a big enough hurdle without suddenly finding myself with no income and no emotional support. So, there I was, standing toe to toe with opportunity, and it looked an awful lot like hard work to me.

But damned if I was going to let that stop me from pursuing my goal of returning to college. I didn't have a clue how I was going to finance this endeavor, but I knew that if I stopped then, before I even started, that I'd probably regret that decision for the rest of my life.

One of my terms of our separation was that I retained the contents of our joint checking and savings accounts. I used that money to pay the next two months' rent and the tuition for my first two classes. Then I immediately began the laborious search for financial aid.

I started those two classes in January 1999 and another class during the summer, to keep my momentum going. The current semester marks my first as a full-time student at Arapahoe Community College. I was awarded a state education grant, and I won the Second Start Scholarship, a scholarship offered by ACC specifically for people returning to college after an absence of more than five years. My award package "gives" me a part-time job on the campus (in the cashier's office). It also covers my tuition for this semester and the next and even paid for the three tons of books required for my accounting class!

I'm in school, I'm having a great time learning, and I think I appreciate my classes much, much more than I did 20 years ago. I think I'm much better off. As for that little "hitch in my "get along," as my mother would say, I see now that it was actually an opportunity for me to truly pursue my goals. Now I'm in a position to give those goals my full energy and attention. It's hard work, and I expect there's more hard work in my future. But I think I'm up to it.