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| Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com |
Hello everyone.
I know it's been a little while, but I'm back. I have been working extremely hard to finish up my college degree and I am officially done!! I won't be officially graduating until June 2019, but I am so excited and exhausted. Balancing being a full-time student, a stay at home dad, a husband, etc. has been the hardest job that I've ever had, but I know that it has been worth it.
When I was in first grade, I had a teacher that was very verbally abusive to me, often in front of the class. I was attending a small private school, so I was in a classroom that had students from grades 1-4. Over time, I believed everything she said about me. Even though my parents had me tested for ADHD and every other type of learning issue and I had passed ever test that had been thrown at me, I still believed that I was stupid and that no matter what I did, I would never be able to do anything about it. It has taken me years to finally believe in myself, and I can proudly say that I will be graduating with honors since I was able to maintain a 4.0 GPA and will proudly wear the cords of multiple honor societies when I march.
I initially came back to school with the full intention of becoming a pastor and I still intend to follow that path. I was raised in the church and have always had faith that there was something out there much bigger than me. I have always wanted to make a positive difference in this world, and I believe that becoming a pastor will allow me to achieve this goal. I will be graduating with a degree in Communications and a certificate in Human Resources. I wanted to show my kids that if you work hard, you will be rewarded and I believe that I have finally achieved that goal. Luckily Ben (my oldest) loves school and is doing extremely well. He is only in Kindergarten, but he is already learning to read! I'm pretty sure that when I was in Kindergarten we just played and took naps. We didn't even have full school days.
If anyone is even thinking of going back to school, I would highly encourage it. It is a lot of work, but the reward at the end makes it all worth it. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can!
Stay capable!
-Richie
