memories #24

                                                     BACK TO SCHOOL AGAIN 

       “Mom?”, I yelled as I opened the door.  The answer to my call was an audible shriek of excitement followed by a questioning, “Mickey?”

     I had come home for leave a few months ago for a short stay and knew my parents wouldn’t expect me again this soon. As it turned out only my mother was home.  My father was working and my sister, Karen, was in school.                          

     After settling in and answering questions about my surprising and unannounced appearance,  I told my parents what plans I hoped to achieve.  The first part of my plan was to get a job with the city of Farmington.  Since I  still had little skills in the civilian world, the job was one of those Mickey Mouse types that I hated, but needed.  It was a night shift job of watering all the parks and city lawns.  It was late March and the job would hold me until school began at Fort Lewis college in September.  

     Money for college came from my grandmother Koontz and Dad’s G.I. benefits.  It was barely enough to pay for tuition and room and board.  I wish they were both here now so I could thank them again.  I would never have made it on my own.  

Grandmother Koontz

     To receive money from my father's G.I. benefits, I had to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico for an interview and an aptitude test.  The interview and the test lasted less than half a day.  I was told in no uncertain way I was not a rocket scientist.  "Oh", I thought, "I must scuttle my plans to be a neurosurgeon".  

     The interviewer continued to point me in the direction of a vocational school. " Perhaps", he said, "you might be interested in being a mechanic or an electrician.  You do have some experience in electronics".  

     I tried to explain to him that I wanted to be a teacher and a coach.  "Looking at your high school grades", he said, " I believe that a vocational school would best suit you.  If possible, stay away from those higher thinking skills such as math and science as you pursue your vocation".  This guy was beginning to piss me off!

     I had struggled with math and science every year in school. Those fields of study were always hard for me! But the Navy experience taught me I could learn. The interviewer had laid out a challenge before me. I was ready and able to accept it.

     So, armed with bravado and stubbornness, I enrolled for the first semester of classes at Fort Lewis college.  I was finally on my way to my goal of becoming a teacher and a coach.

     The first dumb thing I did in college was to try out for the Fort Lewis football team.  I had much success in high school in all the sports.  It took me two days of practice to realize this really wasn't what I wanted to do.  I had picked up the bad habit of smoking and, along with the 6500 feet of elevation in Durango, running took it's toll on the practice field.  I couldn't breath! There just wasn't enough air.  I also knew I would need more time for studying and the idea of being a student athlete was not at the top of my list of achievements.