AARP Online Community: kmoonpoet

Kmoonpoet

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Background

Gender: Female

Status: Single

Location:
United States

School:
University of Houston
San Jacinto College

Work:
San Jacinto College

Hometown(s):
Dallas, Texas
Houston, Texas
Galway, Ireland

Quote:
"It is never too late to be who you might have been."

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Summa Cum Laude-y, sister! I'm Sixty!

Love in the Second Degree

Love in the First Degree

Daughter of A Union Man

Obama Girl

Great Day Houston Salutes "Super Seniors"

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It was springtime, in every sense of the word; trees budding blinding green, blooms boasting heady colors, and graduates donning caps and gowns for a walk into their futures. So it was for me; at least for the donning part. But the future? Please. I may have felt it was the springtime of life, but at 60, more than a few leaves had fallen.

What was I going to do? I bled for this BA, and I’m post-menopausal! What could I do? I’ve taught enough; I’m a grandmother! And Summa Cum Laude-y have mercy, sister! I’m 60!

These thoughts filled my head that spring of ’07 as I sat in the foyer of San Jacinto College, the place where my dream of a degree began. My best-friend talked me into being the “Information Station” for the summer, greeting and guiding all who entered. It didn’t pay beans, but did give me time to think about my limited options. And it was here, in this humble position, that I fulfilled George Eliot’s promise: “It is never too late to be who you might have been,” and began the next chapter:

I saw it in her walk; head down, eyes averted, purse clutched tight. “Good morning! May I help you?” “Well, umm…” she whispered. Her story and fears were all-too familiar: Fifty-five-year-old recently widowed, never worked out of the house, on her third trip to the campus (the first two spent in the parking lot, too terrified to come in). “I can’t do this. I’ve never done anything but raise kids. I haven’t been in school for forty years. Do you even take people as old as me?”

Aha!

Throughout summer, I signed up 93 like her to start a support group, It’s Never Too Late (aka N2L@SJC), and worked for beans now spiced with passion.

Within a year, I climbed the beanstalk and became, at 61, who I might have been: Kaye Moon Winters, Advisor/Recruiter for Non-Traditional Students. By 71, as Director of the College for Working Adult Students (hey, it takes longer to create a college!) I’ll be well into a new chapter: Grandmother Gets Her PhD.

Added: August 26, 2008
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