Mom Goes To College - The Reality Show

In one of the tunnels connecting the main buildings at Wright State, there is a mural on the wall. It's one of those timelines, as you might see in a museum, with photos and commentary about important events in the college's history. It begins in 1967, which is when WSU was established. The panel at the end says "40th Anniversary."
It is a very LONG mural.

I wonder if it carries much meaning to the average student attending WSU, beyond a casual "huh, that's interesting."
What it means to me is this --- 1967 to 2008 is a very long time.
The walk from the visitor's parking lot to the bookstore in the student union building is also very long. Especially for an out-of-shape, slightly overweight 40 year old, carrying about 30 pounds of books.

We had a very nice, spring-like day today. I got notice that the books I ordered for next quarter were available for pick up - that's something new, too! Registering online for classes...then being sent directly to a screen that let me order my books, the system knew what I needed, just check off some boxes and put in my credit card number and whiz-bang, all done! So I headed up to campus to get them.

I'd been up there a couple times already, once to see my advisor, and once to find my way around. The first time, I got a parking ticket. I do not know why, but it simply had not occurred to me that I couldn't just park in front of the building where I needed to go. Not only did I lack a permit, but that lot was also only for staff. Oops. I appealed (again, online) and was granted a warning instead. Whew. But visitor parking costs $1 an hour, in the proper lot, which is conveniently located at the opposite end of campus from the bookstore. Of course. Is there a message here?

I cruised up the interstate, moon-roof open, listening to some tunes piped in from my MP3 player to the car stereo, feeling very modern and youthful. Hip, even. As I boogied to a Jane's Addiction tune, yes just a kid going to college....it suddenly hit me: "Been Caught Stealing" came out in 1990. Ohmygosh, that would be the birth year of a college freshman, and my "peers" in Junior year would have been TWO. Me? I was working full time and moving in with Mike. That was the year we went to Lollapalooza, anyone remember that? Oh, and I saw the Grateful Dead that summer in Louisville.

Yeah, I'm just a kid going to college.

As I pulled into the parking lot and took my parking pass from the attendant, my stereo was playing an ABBA song. :) Hey, why fight it?

I am trying to walk the halls without looking completely confused and lost, but I am not doing it very well. Twice today I was asked "are you okay?" I guess it will get better. At least I only have to walk the halls looking confused and lost two days a week. From my computer, taking a Web-based class, nobody needs to know I'm a doddering old lady. Except it occurs to me that my name may give it away. Nobody under the age of 35 is named Pamela.

What a geek I am -- like Hermione Granger would do, I am going through all of my books ahead of time to get the head start I anticipate needing. I have high hopes for this math class, because the first chapter does not even have any numbers in it. The first chapter is about logic and reasoning. I can do that! I also have a class on world music; it comes with 3 CD's and a Web interface and I can't wait to pop that in the computer. For my literature class I have four books -- Beowulf, All Quiet on the Western Front, Shakespeare's Henry V, and The Things They Carried. I wish I had a syllabus so I knew which book comes first, but I decided to just go ahead and start reading something, so I'm about 40 pages into the last one I listed. It's about the Vietnam War. They have also helpfully included DVD's for All Quiet and Henry V. Good idea, I think. One of my lit classes from before (uh...20 years ago) assigned Out Of Africa, and I just wasn't getting it, so I went up and rented the movie. But knowing how movies are usually pale representations, I worried the whole time and felt like a cheater!

My books are now tucked into a purple backpack upon which my dear daughter has written her name with a black Sharpie. It's the one she used last year. She's offered me some dangly things to hang from the zipper as she likes to do. She's even offered me the use of her current backpack if I don't want the one bearing her name. That is very sweet, but since the one she uses now has flames and skulls, I think I'll pass.

Now, here's one last "old lady" anecdote. I picked up the student newspaper. In honor of spring break, this was "The Beer Issue." It lists and reviews various nearby night spots and reviews a handful of specialty microbrews. There is an article called "Drinking Tips, From A Bartender." Other articles include such precious statements as "drunk is the only way to travel" and advises heading to the Student Legal Services if you should get arrested for drunkenness. Now...I have been known to knock back a few, but...the MOM in me is horrified. When I was 18-20 or so I would have thought it was COOL to cover such stuff in the student paper, drinking tips? I could add some of my own. But now?

This is going to be quite a journey.

Wouldn't this make a great reality show? Seriously!

Now I'm thinking of movies that have featured old folks like me going back to college. Let's see...Educating Rita, and that one movie with Rodney Dangerfield...anything else you can think of?