Kaye Moon Winters reads her essay:
"My Next Chapter"
Grand Prize Winner in AARP/Borders "Your Next Chapter" Contest
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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
my 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: 55 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 raise kids. I haven’t been in school for 40
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, 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, creating a college
takes longer!) I’ll be well into a new chapter: Grandmother Gets Her PhD.
Listen to Alyne's interview with Kaye Moon Winters and her story about the contest
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. 