dragonflygrrl

This has been a long, uphill battle for me, but this week marks a big milestone: I registered for classes for my final undergraduate semester. To paraphrase David Spade and Chris Farley, “Lots of people go to college for 10 years…we call them doctors.” But I’m so close, and there is nothing that can keep me from getting it done now.

And then it’s on to grad school…something I never thought I’d be able to do. But I guess once you finish one goal, you gotta move on to the next.

I haven’t smoked a cigarette in nearly three months. I have gone to the bar and not smoked, gotten crying, shouting angry and not smoked, and even hung out with smoking friends and not smoked. I am planning my wedding, possibly the most stress-filled (in a good way) event of my life, and I am not smoking. I don’t hesitate when asked which section of the restaurant I want. I am a non-smoker. Even better, my fiance has quit too, and has finally weaned himself off the nicotine gum. I am so happy to know that there will be no wedding pictures of us trying to sneak a cig before the ceremony! I don’t see us ever going back.

This site was so helpful to me. Hearing other people’s experiences as I’ve gone through this process has been an immense source of support. To anyone that has posted something that has kept me on the straight and narrow, thanks. Good luck to you all. It is possible, and you can do it. :)

I am getting married in October, and it seems like my whole life has been put on hold until after that. I hate my soul-sucking job with a passion, but I can’t quit, thus losing my saved up vacation, until after the honeymoon. I can’t work the schedule I am working and go to school, since any classes I would need are only offered during the day, but they are unwilling to change my hours. October is fast approaching, though, and it looks like my husband and I will both be going back to school in the upcoming winter semester, and shaking off the dust of this town for good!

We are planning to live in married student housing and apply for lots of grants, so hopefully we will only have to work part time. I know others have done it, but I would never have been able to finish my associates if I hadn’t switched to part time, and being able to just go to school that last semester was a godsend.

It would mean so much to us both to be able to be proud of what we do, and actually enjoy our work. That is what a bachelor’s represents to me, the ability to do work that interests and inspires me. That is exactly what is missing from my life now, and I feel that the closer we get to the wedding, the closer we get to taking our lives off “pause.”