College Bound!

For months--ok a few years now, I have been pushing Andrew to go back to school and finish up his degree. He is something like 16 credits shy of having 2 Associates degrees-health science and fire protection. He is also perfectly positioned to finish up some prereqs for paramedic. As an EMT looking for a job as a firefighter he is in a highly competitive field with thousands of applicants for usually less than a hundred jobs. Not great odds by any standard! As a paramedic the field is narrowed down a lot and he can apply for a fire department that is in a more rural district where paramedic is required. He has wanted to go back to school, but he has been concerned that he would get deployed again and then he would have to walk away from a program. Lately there has been a lot of talk that there really isn't enough funding for another deployment of his unit for the next several years so I have been "gently" prodding him along and this week he met with an academic advisor at PCC to find out what he needs to do to get it done. He was greatly relieved to find out that he really doesn't have as much to do as he originally thought and he also found out that his odds for getting into the program are pretty good. It is highly competitive with restricted entry, but they haven't actually filled all 24 spots the last couple of years for some reason so Andrew is really encouraged that this will all work out for the best. Aside from the training he has received from the Air Force, Andrew hasn't been to school since he was 19! This is going to be a HUGE adjustment for our family to make, but it will totally be worth it. If everything goes according to plan then Andrew should be able to start the one year Paramedic program in the winter of 2011. We are going to have to make a lot of sacrifices over the next 2 1/2 years, but in the end it should pay off!

This summer Andrew will probably take it easy with one class and then jump in this fall. Is it weird that I am a little jealous? I am a strange girl and I LOVED school. Not so much the tests and papers and all of that stuff, but the learning. I love it! I have a really hard time understanding how people don't love it:) I can admit that I was a total nerd--valedictorian of my graduating hygiene class in 2006, but I couldn't help it. There was something about school that just came naturally to me. Looking at Andrew's academic plan I am so excited for when he starts Anatomy and Physiology because those were some of my favorite classes. I already told him he is going to have to let me know if I get too involved because I may just find myself trying to study those fascinating body systems;) I guess in a way he should count himself lucky that he has a live in tutor... Anyways, here we are joining the ranks of what we used to hear called "young marrieds" in our old ward referring to those couples who had either one or both spouses in college. Although, I am not sure if we really qualify as "young" any more!