Nontraditional

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Howard Thurman

So, it is tough being a nontraditional student, but I'm not complaining. I count myself lucky for caring, for wanting to learn "at my age," for still striving when many of my similar aged peers are looking for ways to kick back and coast. Sometimes things happen that make you reexamine how you are using your time.

I became a student in reaction to my daughter, presently 22, nearly dying.  Nearly dying the first time, that is.

She surprised everyone, including herself, by having a pulmonary embolism at 20.  If you are in her age peer group, healthy and still taking it for granted, please enjoy yourself (responsibly.) The rug can just get yanked, and afterward everything changes. Don't stop there; it won't be enough. Figure out what the world needs, come alive, go be it.

It turns out she has an underlying medical condition that will make the rest of her life tricky. It annoys her; she is a college student too, a truly legitimate young person striving to become someone the world needs. Her health troubles are unwanted interruptions; she was supposed to go back to her school on Tuesday, to resume classes. That plan now looks like it is going to have to be adjusted.

Presently I am in a hospital room, doing homework next to my daughter, who lies asleep in the midst of her latest bump in her life's road. I'm pretty helpless in all of this, but I can still try hard not to curl into a fetal position.  I may have a pop quiz tomorrow, after all.