Back to School Times Two

As summer draws to a close I can't help but wonder where the time has gone. A day is coming not once, but twice, that I never thought I would see. In just seven short days, Emma will join the ranks of the backpack equipped soldiers of knowledge. She'll say goodbye to her family and board the bus intent on what lies ahead, the school day invasion. I can only imagine the conversations with a stocky, cigar chomping five year old known only as Sarge. The bus nears the school parking lot. "OK you ladies, when that door opens I want you to hit the ground running!" "I'm scared sarge" calls a squeaky voice from the back of the bus. "We're all scared son, pull yourself together! You've been training for this day for five years, it's what you were born to do. Now move, move, move!"  Nerves raw and adrenaline pumping as she negotiates here way past the hostile first graders, through the treacherous halls and into the belly of the beast - the classroom. I'm not worried, I know she's got the training and the determination to walk out victorious. Just remember, school is hell.

And speaking of hell, I'm going back to school, and not in that cool Rodney Dangerfield way. It's time to join the ranks of mediocre middle managers everywhere and get my MBA. Based on my corporate experience, I think it stands for "Must Be an Ass", oh wait, I've just been informed that's incorrect. Never mind. It takes me back to that day in distant 1995 when I swore a sacred oath never to return to any establishment of higher learning ever again. But, I've managed to screw myself on a technicality. I'm never actually going to return to the learning establishment. In a grand experiment I'll be doing the entire thing online. That right, in addition to porn and MySpace, they now have College on the Internet.

It will be interesting to see how these experiences shape us both in the years to come. I can only take comfort in the knowledge that I'll be done in two years and Emma has like 20. Ha-ha!