Major Life Transition

My freshman year in college I read an article in Seventeen Magazine that would set me on a path that I would follow until this day.  The article was about the relatively new field of speech pathology.  I thought that sounded interesting and the following year when I had to declare a major, I decided on that.  Of course, growing up in the Fifties, I didn't expect to actually have a career.  I wanted a college degree.  That was a secondary goal.  My main goal was to get married, have two children, a nice house, two cars and a dog.  Once I achieved that, I would bid speech pathology goodbye.  

But I didn't.  I worked for the Houston Independent School District for a while, then got married, had two children, etc. 
Then I got a divorce.  I returned to college, got a Master's in speech pathology and audiology and went back to work for the next fifty years.

Choosing speech pathology as a career was one of the luckiest and best choices I ever made.  I've never seen it as a "job" but as a calling.  I've been privileged to hear children's first words, hear their garbled speech become intelligible, watch them learn to read and express themselves in writing.  Along the way, I've shared families' amd children's lives and language.  It's been the perfect profession for me, but now it's time to move on, or as one of my four-year-old students said the other day, "Miss Thelma, now you'll be 'attired.'"  

This is a major turning point for me, but I know the time is right. The road ahead is a little scary but exciting.  I've loved going to work every day and I have so many memories to cherish.

So I'll end with words from "A Chorus Line:"
     "Kiss today goodbye
    And point me toward tomorrow.
    Wish me luck,
    The same to you.
    But I can't regret,
    Won't forget
    What I did for love.

    Love is never gone.
    As we travel on,
    It's love that we remember..."

Just before my husband died, he said, "You'll be all right.  You'll do something good."  I hope so.