Standing On the Corner of Success and Failure

My blog challenge topic for today is to write about my best school memory. When I first saw this topic I knew exactly what I was going to write about- my favorite teacher. Then as I sat down to write the post, I paused and started thinking about so many other school memories. I pulled out my photo album, took a walk down memory lane and made a list of new topic ideas. I put them aside and decided to sleep on it, hoping that I would wake up with the perfect blog post.

However what came to me as I started to write was actually my worst school memory, but it is the one that changed my life forever.

It was the end of the spring quarter of my junior year of college. I was feeling burned out on school and was struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My drive and motivation were gone and my grades reflected that fact. And I received the dreaded letter from the school notifying me that I was on academic probation.

I, of course, had to inform my parents. I told them I was burned out; that I needed a break. They disagreed. It was “spring fever,” I would have the summer and then go back and be motivated, they were certain.

The summer of 1995 was memorable; one of my favorites actually. I fell in love for the first time that summer. Unfortunately, it ended with my heart broken.

Starting the first quarter of my senior year with a broken heart and still feeling burned out was a real challenge. I pushed myself to go to classes, worked at staying focused and struggled to complete my projects. I thought I had made it through but it wasn’t enough. At the end of fall quarter I received a letter that I had flunked out. I was devastated; I had truly done all I could.

I still remember having to make that phone call to my parents. I called my mom at work and asked her not to call dad yet; I couldn’t face telling him I had flunked out. After I talked to mom I went for a walk to figure out what I was supposed to do next. The world was spinning around me, closing in fast.

When I returned, my roommate told me that my dad called. Mom had called him with the news. I felt sick. What would he say? He must be so mad. I really let them down.

Imagine my surprise when they apologized to me.

They told me I had tried to tell them that I needed a break and they didn’t agree. To this day that conversation still surprises me. My mom reminded me of my interest in being a nanny back East; a dream that I put on hold because my parents wanted me to go right off to college. From that moment forward, my life changed.

I took at job with a wonderful family in Connecticut as a nanny for a year. My parents were worried I wouldn’t finish college but I knew I would. I completed my amazing year on the East Coast and went right back to school and finished my degree in Communications/Journalism. However I had fallen in love with Connecticut in that year. Three days after I graduated from college, I was driving back East to find a job. Within three months I got a job with a small publishing company and I still work for them today.