mitzi.flyte
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

Treat Your Children Well…

Do not let your children down. Here’s the story of a kid who may have gone further but didn’t.

As the “fat girl” in high school, I never really felt accepted. Not only fat, but somewhat poor as the “barber’s daughter.” But this is not that story, this is a different one.

Back in the early 1960s it was expected that those of us in the “academic” section of high school would venture on to college. I wanted to go to college more than anything (other than wanting to be skinny). I wanted to major in journalism and minor in political science. I loved politics and I read the Washington Post every morning.

My father told me from the beginning of high school not to plan on college; our family (remember, barber) couldn’t afford it. No one in the school encouraged me, no counselor, no teacher, no one. By the time I was a senior, it had been decided that I would go to nursing school, one 200 miles from home that cost only $500 for the three years. I did. I graduated, became and RN and worked in that profession for more than forty years.

I did not like my job even though I was good at it. I still wanted to be a writer. I still wrote with some minor publication credits. I retired at 64 as a a VP of Nursing for a nursing home management company.

At my 50th high school reunion I learned, a bit belatedly, that I’d had “the highest IQ” of anyone in my class. I thanked the person who told me because she must have felt she was doing a good deed. But not really.

I then realized why my English teacher was so upset that I was going to nursing school and not college. In fact when she heard nursing school, she said, “You should go to college.”

Well, no one had told me that earlier.

Since I learned about my IQ (for whatever that’s worth), I’ve wondered why no one encouraged me. Did my parents know and did they (meaning my father) just shrug it off as not necessary knowledge? Did anyone think to encourage me to try for some scholarships? If I had known, would I have pressed the issue with my father (who was not an easy parent to begin with)?

I don’t know. But I do know that years later, I encouraged my daughter to do anything she wanted, from horseback riding to piano to flute, even to leaving college.

She’s lately found her path from a Masters in English to a Doctorate.

Her mother is still trying to find her own way through the weeds of her almost 70 years. And it’s with some wisdom that I realize had I not gone to nursing school, I would not have had her in my life.

Some of us start on our path later than others.

But always, always, give your children the chance to start whatever whenever.

mitzi.flyte

Written by

A 70+ year old retired RN who’s following her 60 year old dream of being a writer, one interested in everything unusual. www.facebook.com/MitziFlyteAuthor