last visit to the campus. I had begun at the University of Akron, then I went 3 years to BYU and then back to the University of Akron for 2 more years to finish (I had changed my major twice). We had gotten home sick as my wife was from Ohio as well.

The last semester I had to take 20 credit hours. I had been the president of one organization, assistant president of another, and I had a position in 3 others, one very time consuming. I had been offered 2 jobs just before Thanksgiving and I had accepted one. I knew that last semester I only had to pass my last classes. I was 30 years old and I had 6 kids. My wife watched kids in the morning and then went to work full time as a nurse in the evenings. I had the kids all evening I remember one of the classes was nip and tuck. I had gone up to the school (didn't have on-line stuff yet) to see my final grade and to know if I was done or had to contact my future employer and tell them I had messed up on one class at the end. I had a 3.2 GPA before that last semester, but I had to have that last credit hour for my major.

When I saw I had passed, I was so clearly wondering how much I would hurt myself if I did cartwheels all the way to my car. What a huge relief, but it was like being at the battle's end and just reflecting on so many memories and realizing it was finally over.