posted
Oh, Lotti, that's so great! I remember when my dad was in his early forties and decided to get over his fear of the water and enrolled in swimming lessons. It was a major lesson for me in overcoming obsticles and fears that hold us back. Thank you for reminding me that we can be bigger than our challenges.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6782 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Good on you, Lotti. I remember arguing with my Mom when I was about 16. I ended my schpiel by adding the cruel dig "So what do you know? You didn't even graduate from high school!" I deserved to be slapped for that one. Instead, Mom went out in secret and got her GED, graduating just a year before I did. I was very proud of her, and ashamed of myself. I'm sure everyone you know is very proud of your achievement. Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
The oldest person writing the GED tests with me was a guy in his fifties. It is my hope that this post would inspire somebody else to go ahead and do this. It feels really good, and I can't understand why I waited so long. Thanks again, everybody, your response is so encouraging!
posted
Lotti, My Dad wrote his GED when he was 62, just 5 years before he died. He also scored very well. I've been thinking about him a lot lately and your achievement touched me because it makes me proud of both you and him. He said he didn't want to die an uneducated man, which was silly, because he had more in terms of life skills and humanity than almost anyone I know. Still he had a dream and he made it reality. Tomorrow will be 10 years since he passed away. I miss him so much. Yes it is just a piece of paper, but it is also a document that says that you still choose to better yourself.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I didn't know that about your dad, Kelly. It says a lot about him, doesn't it? He sounds like somebody I would have liked to meet. Six years since my dad passed away. That's the only sad part about achieving this, I can't tell him about it. He would have been so proud of me and would have told everybody. I can just hear him...
posted
Congrats, Lotti! Your dad would be so proud of you! I'm sure he is with you in spirit. Lotti, I also miss my dad everyday, and it's been 5 1/2 years since I lost him. One thing I remember so much about him is that he was truly a "self-made man" in every sense of the word. Many folks proclaim to be, but have had help by many others. My dad quit school at 6th grade at 13 years of age to work so the family could survive. He grew up in the depression and his father had just been killed in a car accident, leaving him and his 11 year old younger brother fatherless, at a tender age. It was sad. Their mom opened a grocery store, and my dad learned everything there is to know about cars and doing odd jobs. He never went past the 6th grade in high school. Then, a few years later, he went straight into Electrical Engineer college. He graduated and worked for the Chicago railroad for years.
My dad told me that he used to barter and one fine story was that he needed all his teeth pulled due to eating a "lot of candy" and so forth so he traded with the dentist. My dad wired the dentist's electrical chair to work, and my dad got all his teeth pulled and later got dentures. I don't think he ever got his GED, but today as I was going through some of my huge stashes of papers, I ran across the patent for his invention of a "dairy waste pollution device". My dad got a job with ABC radio during the depression and there were 130 applicants. When asked why my dad should be hired over everyone else, he told the owner of ABC that "I'm the man for you, baby". He said to me that he was "sweating bullets", but he got the job with a strong handshake and a fervant desire along with his moxie. My dad was a smart man, one of the smartest in the world: (he married my Mom). Lotti, the world is at your feet. Thank you for sharing your great news with us. It means so much to me to see you accomplish your dream, and have the drive and discipline to do that. One day maybe you can teach me French! would you?
I would love to go back to high school since there are so many classes we never had that I would love to take, like animation design and horticulture and electronics.
[ May 01, 2006, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: Deb Fowler ]
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Congrats Lotti! My aunt Denise got hers at the age of 38 and it made a dramatic difference in her confidence level -- best thing for her! All the best!
posted
Waytago, Lotti! Got mine when I was 47, and it allowed me to go to university as a "regular" student, not a "mature" student, so no extra classes. Felt pretty darn good, so go ahead and feel proud, you deserve it. MUR
-------------------- Murray MacDonald OldTime Signs 529 Third Ave S Kenora, ON. P9N 1Y3 oldtimesigns@gokenora.com Posts: 781 | From: Kenora, ON | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
![[Group Hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic