Back_to_School

Mark Key Unit 6 Narrative Essay First Draft Returning to School at the Age of 49 Making the decision to go back to at the age of 49 was a tough decision. There are many different reasons for making such a commitment. I chose the field of education because of my love for technology. I mainly am focusing on Networking, Server and working with the physical aspects of the computer. I have been working with computers for about ten years. I started just because of the fact I didn’t want to pay someone to fix my computer when I felt I could do it myself. My first experience was when I purchased my first computer, and I needed a new hard drive. I bought one and attempted to put it in myself. I could not get it to work. Frustrated and angry, I took it to Best Buy and had them install it. Fifty dollars later, I was told I had the cable backwards. This set the stage for a long and enriching love of computers. I seem to have a knack for it. It was amazing how I took to it. Everything I read, heard and experienced made sense to me. For the first time in my life, I felt like this was easy. I could remember it and apply it. I soon started to help others and was getting calls from people with computer questions. With the Internet at my disposal, I had a library of vast knowledge and resources. It became so common place that my wife at the time, suggested I start charging people for my time. I soon had a small business running out of my basement and I named it “Key PC.” I still do computer work for my clients, but I closed shop officially a couple of years ago. I am currently employed at a waste water treatment plant here in Madison, WI. I have been there nearly twenty years. I started as janitor, and worked my way up to Waste Water Operator, (technician). “Every day is shitty.” Sorry, little waste water humor. I work twelve hour days on a rotating schedule, (three days on, and three days off), 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. It is a swing shift, meaning one month of days, one month of nights. I make a good living and have great benefits. So why would I want to leave this job' Well, the answer is not an easy one. After twenty years, and having that kind of time in a job, it was hard to justify going back to school. So, this is where I explain my decision. This is a little bit of a story, but I will try to not ramble on. About 2004, my wife wanted a divorce. We had been married for eight years and together for eleven. She had a son, and together we had a daughter. Without going into too much detail, this was not my decision and under the circumstances, it was hard to take. You see, my ex-wife is an Alcoholic, who had been sober for ten years. She fell off the wagon, and my life and our marriage spiraled out of control. We divorced in 2004. I went through a lot of personal and financial issues over the next number of years, after my wife and I split up. I had a number of bad relationships, filed for bankruptcy, lost my home and my ex-wife attempted suicide, as well as relapsed for the third time. My daughter came to live with full time. The thing was, I was working and making a good living. I eventually had a nervous breakdown, and went into a deep depression. I got the help I needed and worked through problems and everything looked up. I started dating my current wife, and we had to overcome some issues with my daughter. She was failing in school, and she started seeing her mother half time. The main reason she was failing, is she was missing too many days and not getting homework turned in. This had a lot to do with her mother. With some more traumatic events with her mother, I filed for custody and then things really got interesting. To cut to the chase, the next couple of events are what finally made me make the decisions I made. With everything happening in my life at this time, it had put a lot of stress on me, and I was getting sick a lot. One Saturday while I was at work, my daughter and I had a huge fight over the phone. I was stuck at work and could not leave to attend to the issue. Later that day, I passed out and ended up in the hospital. I had no idea who I was, where I was, and who anybody else was. I lost all memory. I didn’t even remember my fiancé. They asked me my birthday and I gave them my daughters. I finally snapped out of it when my daughter came into the room. This was enough to rattle me back to reality. This was the most traumatic thing I had ever experienced in my life. I lost four hours of my life. I developed Trans Global Amnesia during the time between passing out and seeing my daughter. The next event was the final blow. I had a visit with my doctor as a follow-up after that day. She recommended I change carriers. She felt as though working the shifts I have been for so many years, may be what is affecting my mental health, and my physical health issues. My therapist agreed with her as well. I realized that this was easier said than done. They had a mechanic position open at work, and I thought this was my chance to get off the night shifts. I applied, and got the highest score on the test. I thought with my years there, I was a shoe in. I would be taking a pay cut, but I was willing to, hoping to make my life easier to deal with. I finally got the news that I was not selected for the position. The reason that I was not chosen, was due to the amount of sick leave I had used over the past years; this made me unreliable. This really hit me hard. I needed to get off the shifts, and this would be my last opportunity to do so, because of the new requirements that they were making to be eligible for other positions that would come available. There were other mitigating factors that I will not go into. I had to take a hard look at things, and after contemplating my options, I decided to go back to school. If I was going to change carriers, I had to have an education. I could not go out and replace the income I had worked up to without it. So I approached this with my love for computers. With the experience and some other computer related courses I had taken in the past, I made my decision. My choice was to obtain my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology. I knew this was a big challenge and I was not sure if I could do it. So here I am at the age of 49, tying to, what at times, seems impossible. I have already had numerous setbacks, trials and tribulations. I actually lost this document after all the work I put into it. I was done, and decided to quit. I then sat after a very trying day with my daughter, and got to thinking about how stupid I was to make the mistake that caused the loss of this document. Then, the bell went off in my head. I can retrieve it via restore. So, as I conclude this essay, I hope that it teaches me and hopefully others that, you’re never too old to go back to school and it is never too late start a new life. Good luck to all in their challenges in life, and may good things come your way.