Returning To School After 30 Years Research Paper
Why I am Returning to School after 30 Years John Hulka
ENG 121
Melissa Holmberg
February 9, 2011
Sitting here, as a new student in an on online college course, reflecting back the past 30 years is really something. It is funny how fate (and bad decisions) will put you in a situation that you never thought you would be in, until it slaps you in the face. I never thought too much about school. I certainly did not think I would find myself in college, much less so late in my life. Let me start at the beginning, and explain the best that I can why I am returning to school after all these years. I graduated high school in 1980. I was so glad to get out of high school. No more school and all that pressure, I did not …show more content…
However, I was not willing to accept that, or do much about it. I was just going from construction job to construction job. Then, I met somebody else. There is only one problem (of course, I did not realize it was a problem at the time). We had only one thing in common, you guessed it; drugs. After a while, I was doing more drugs than work. Then we had a child, although we were never married, we ended up having another child. This relationship was dysfunctional to say the least. (problems from this relationship is haunting me to this day). It was time to look at myself. I decided, to look at my life and myself. I was about 30 years old, and I have let drugs take over my life. Now, innocent people are getting hurt. (The children). We were fighting excessively. One day I just said enough was enough. I tried to get off the drugs, but by that time, I knew I was addicted. I got the help I needed, and got off the drugs and I am clean to this day.
One day I went to pick up the boys at their mother’s house. In the house, I noticed that the water had been shut off for days. I got a camera took pictures and got a lawyer, I decided that she was not a good enough mother to take care of the children, so I decided to fight for custody. I did just that, of course it is very hard to take the child away from his mother in Arizona. But, for whatever reason, we have joint …show more content…
And eventually died of kidney failure. Before she died, she told me to get myself checked. Now I have not been to a Doctor in years for fear they would know I was a drug addict. After she died, I thought to myself, I should get checked, after all, I had nothing to fear now (because I was drug free). The Doctor said that I had high blood pressure for quite some time, without treating, it caused Cardiomyopathy, which is an enlarged heart, and it is failing. I also had diabetes. Whether this is drug induced or hereditary I will never know for sure. However, it was time to take care of myself. It was not long after that my health began to fail noticeably; I could not do the work that I used to, or as efficiently either. By this time, I was with the company so long, that they promoted me to Safety Director. Now in this position, I did not have to work as hard physically. Four years ago, my heart began to fail even more and required a pacemaker and defibrillator. The only function I could do at work after a while, was teaching. I was not able to go on the jobsites any longer because I had to carry oxygen with
ENG 121
Melissa Holmberg
February 9, 2011
Sitting here, as a new student in an on online college course, reflecting back the past 30 years is really something. It is funny how fate (and bad decisions) will put you in a situation that you never thought you would be in, until it slaps you in the face. I never thought too much about school. I certainly did not think I would find myself in college, much less so late in my life. Let me start at the beginning, and explain the best that I can why I am returning to school after all these years. I graduated high school in 1980. I was so glad to get out of high school. No more school and all that pressure, I did not …show more content…
However, I was not willing to accept that, or do much about it. I was just going from construction job to construction job. Then, I met somebody else. There is only one problem (of course, I did not realize it was a problem at the time). We had only one thing in common, you guessed it; drugs. After a while, I was doing more drugs than work. Then we had a child, although we were never married, we ended up having another child. This relationship was dysfunctional to say the least. (problems from this relationship is haunting me to this day). It was time to look at myself. I decided, to look at my life and myself. I was about 30 years old, and I have let drugs take over my life. Now, innocent people are getting hurt. (The children). We were fighting excessively. One day I just said enough was enough. I tried to get off the drugs, but by that time, I knew I was addicted. I got the help I needed, and got off the drugs and I am clean to this day.
One day I went to pick up the boys at their mother’s house. In the house, I noticed that the water had been shut off for days. I got a camera took pictures and got a lawyer, I decided that she was not a good enough mother to take care of the children, so I decided to fight for custody. I did just that, of course it is very hard to take the child away from his mother in Arizona. But, for whatever reason, we have joint …show more content…
And eventually died of kidney failure. Before she died, she told me to get myself checked. Now I have not been to a Doctor in years for fear they would know I was a drug addict. After she died, I thought to myself, I should get checked, after all, I had nothing to fear now (because I was drug free). The Doctor said that I had high blood pressure for quite some time, without treating, it caused Cardiomyopathy, which is an enlarged heart, and it is failing. I also had diabetes. Whether this is drug induced or hereditary I will never know for sure. However, it was time to take care of myself. It was not long after that my health began to fail noticeably; I could not do the work that I used to, or as efficiently either. By this time, I was with the company so long, that they promoted me to Safety Director. Now in this position, I did not have to work as hard physically. Four years ago, my heart began to fail even more and required a pacemaker and defibrillator. The only function I could do at work after a while, was teaching. I was not able to go on the jobsites any longer because I had to carry oxygen with