I did it again!!! :-)

Today's mail brought a letter from the University congratulating me for making the Part-time Student Dean's List. Yay for good grades!

It wasn't always that way. When I was a young kid in college for the first time I made mediocre to horrible grades. It seemed as if I was constantly on Scholastic Probation. Part of that was the learning curve of needing to be responsible for making it to all my classes and getting all my assignments done. Once I found a major I loved my grades picked up until I was just about ready to graduate. Even then they hovered around average.

That was 30+ years ago. Now days I make straight A's in classes that are much harder than anything I tackled back then. What changed? Several things. A big one is my level of maturity. I've realized, and responded to, the need to work hard for what I want. Another part is I've acquired some goals. Determination to reach them is a key ingredient in being willing to go the extra mile. Additionally, I'm being challenged in my course work. This is incredibly stimulating and I'm always delighted when I meet that challenge with something that works really well. Last but not least, a few years ago I was diagnosed as being ADD. Having learned that, I was able to determine what I needed in order to succeed. One of the things I needed was to be on medication. That isn't a popular choice with many parents for various reasons. They have reasonable concerns but I won't go into them now. For me, medication was a lifesaver. Suddenly I went from trying to tackle my studies in 10 to 15 minutes increments (the amount of time I could maintain focus) to being able to concentrate and stay on-task for 2.5 hours. Yep...15 minutes to 150 minutes. That is a HUGE factor in academic success. All of this has combined to make me successful as a student and to have hopes of realizing my dreams.

Even knowing all that, making straight A's is still an awesome feeling. Every time I get a good report card I dance the happy dance. Yay for success! Peace out!