A mother at 16, my chances were slim. Until these real miracles. |
Do you believe in miracles? At the start of this new year, looking back at my journey in life, I know I do. Here’s why.
I was only 16, a junior in high school, when I had my first child, a son. I was happy to be a mother, even if a single one, but the responsibility came much too soon and set me off in the wrong direction. At the time, I had no idea that motherhood as a teenager would turn out to be only the first of many struggles I would have to confront as an adult.
Yet today, 30 years later, I’m what I might least have expected to become: an educator at a local college. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that education is always pivotal, but also that our destiny occasionally has to take detours. Say what you want, but I call that a miracle.
Luckily, as a young mother, I knew that to earn enough money to support my family, I needed to act quickly. I decided the key to the life I wanted was college.
But which college? A traditional university would cost more than I could afford and take more time – typically four years – than I could spare. Besides, would such a school train me for the kind of job that leads to a career?
I was already a certified nursing assistant but now set my sights on becoming a paralegal. So I chose to enroll in a........