My dad has recently decided to go back to school to follow his dreams. I'm extremely excited for him as he just started his journey this fall- coincidentally at the same time that I have started college. Going to school at the same time as your dad can definitely be... interesting.
He started school several weeks later than I did at a school that is over an hour away from home. He spent the entire summer planning and finding an apartment. On the bright side, combined with having two kids in college and going himself, my dad is a professional at filling out the FAFSA.
One of the best parts of the whole experience is being able to call my dad and relate to him. Now that my dad and I are both in college, we can both relate to the struggles of having homework and writing papers while having to balance a social/home life. I remember calling my dad for his birthday a couple of weeks ago and it was really interesting to be able to ask him about his own classes as well as tell him about my own.
The hardest part is hardly getting to see my dad. I go to college about an hour away from my home so I am able to come home nearly every weekend. The only problem is that my dad lives all the way in Cleveland which is a couple hours away from my home and much farther to drive. Of course my dad also can't always come home on the weekends because he has a job and schoolwork to keep up with in Cleveland.
Telling friends that my dad is in college is always an interesting experience. At first it does sound a little bit strange and the eyebrows scrunch together and the heads cock slightly to the side as they take in the information, but soon after everyone is always quick to say how cool it is that my dad has decided to go back to school after years of being away.
I think that my dad is a huge inspiration. I'm so proud of him for going back to college and chasing his dream of owning his own car garage. Through hours and hours of car shows and years of the old Chevelle sitting in the barn, my dad is finally doing what he always wanted. It just goes to show that it's never too early or too late to chase your dreams and that hard work can go a long way. In about a year and a half my dad will be certified to restore classic cars and hopefully he'll have an extremely successful car garage.
This part is for my dad, who I know always reads my articles. Dad, I just wanted to let you know how much I love you and how great I think it is that you decided to do this. Not many people would be able to uproot their lives, move partially across the state, and go back to school after so much time of living a different life and working at the same job. I'm proud of you and I know that you'll be successful. I hope to see you soon and I hope I'm making you as proud as you make me. I love you!