I'm too old for this

by Rob Shenk

Considering that the women in my family live until their late 80s, it seems a bit early to say that I’m too old for much. Ok, I’m too old for foolishness, to waste time with the trivial, and to allow things in my life that don’t bring joy. But we’re never too old to learn something new, right? Well, I think I’m learning that I have a lot on my plate.

This morning, I blew a test that I should have aced. I had a paper due earlier this week and homework for another class. Plus I was behind on grading papers, and I had to prepare my students for a test. The result was that I took my ability to prepare for this test for granted and waited until the last minute to really study. And wouldn’t you know that this would be the night that little Ms. Z chose to be extremely fussy allowing me neither time to study like I wanted nor an opportunity to get ample sleep. So I answered two questions extremely well (I think) and I bombed the other two. There went what I was sure would be an A to balance out whatever grade I’m graced with in my difficult class.

When did it get to be so difficult to manage things? And to think that I had considered continuing to work full time while doing this. So back to my original conclusion. I must be too old for this. I’m perfectly content to be the mother of those beautiful bundles of joy the Lord blessed us with. I’m not about titles, so I don’t ever have to be called Dr. anything. I can tutor and still make a difference. Of course there is the issue with the fact that I’m not a quitter. A procrastinator and avoider, sure, but not a quitter. And I was starting to look forward to the idea of teaching at a university. But that’s all vanity.

I’m tired today. Prayerfully I’ll have a new perspective in the morning. After all, I still have a paper to write, three finals to prepare for, classes to teach…