Well...I spent the better part of today polishing up my final projects for this graduate degree....what a great feeling!  Between a couple of websites, a pretty lengthy research paper and presentation, and an instructional design internship, I can say that I am pretty much coasting for the next week!  I am so thankful to have had this experience...and I am tired!  Graduation is two weeks from today....I have my regalia.....I have my family.....I am ready to start this next chapter of my life!

Twenty years after completion of my associate degree in applied science I am finally completing my master's degree in education.  It is hard to believe that I will be graduating in about 3 weeks; I am already expecting that I will be quite lonesome without design projects, required reading, and group work to keep me constantly running.  Then again, maybe the much needed rest will fill that empty feeling.
This evening, I arrived home to find that my regalia had been delivered, and I quickly ripped open the package an donned my hood.  My 10 year-old ran into the kitchen and grabbed the mortarboard and placed it upon his head.  He slipped into the gown, and I hooded him.  Then....it dawned on me....all of this hard work just paid off, and every bit of it was for him, his older brother (who refused to try on the "stuff"), and all other children who will struggle for, fuss about, fight to finish, and doubt that they will ever achieve any goal that they truly want in life.  I am thankful that this achievement did not come easily, because I treasure the experience and reward so much more. 

To everyone who thinks that they can't....think again.  Anything worth having is worth working for, and if working for a goal such as this degree were easy, then everyone would do it.  Education is something that is always a solid and sound investment and will pay back in one way or another.