This is what I like to hear

For the past 26 years, 3 months, and 6 days we've listened to my mom talk about how much she wishes she could go back to college and finish her degree. And we wish that she could, too. But it's like it was never her turn. She was raising us and frequently working part-time when we were little. My dad joined the Air Force right after high school, so it took him a long time to get a bachelor's degree (and then a masters) through night-classes and distance ed. And then all the kids were in college and needing money for things like tuition, books, and million-dollar plane tickets home to AK at Christmas.

Only now, see, we've all moved out and young Master Coolboy is the only one still needing tuition assistance. So now it can be Mom's turn. But I think that after so long she's kind of psyched herself out a bit. And there are always these other things that seem more important at the moment. Because I'm not sure what those things are I'll just take a stand and say they're not actually more important than education. Stands like that are easiest to make when one doesn't have all the facts.

I've told her, though, that if she ends up not going back and getting her degree, especially now that she actually has enough time & money to do it, then she's not allowed to bring it up again. Ever. Because she will have lost her whining rights and it won't be anyone else's fault anymore. We're all about the tough love here.

So when I see a story like this one I want to make sure she sees it, along with anyone else who feels like it's too late for them to go back to school or change careers or just do something completely different. Brian May, the guitarist from Queen, has just turned in his Ph.D. thesis to the university he left 36 years ago. He's 60 years old. And his thesis was about Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.

That's what I'm talking about, people.

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