Going back to college, let alone nursing school, felt silly when I started this journey at age 40. I am a mom of 4 children, comfortably married to my husband for 20 years, now 25 years, and I work full-time. Why would I want to make our busy life even busier and possibly not manageable?
Travis, my husband, was hurt on the job and became physically and permanently disabled. I knew I needed to go back to school to be able to take care of our family financially. I still had to work full-time, though, because he was unable to. I started with night classes, online classes, I worked 2 part-time jobs on top of my full-time job, and took care of our 4 children.
I realized I love taking care of people and helping them reach a point in their lives where they can do more for themselves as well. I love science and learning about the brain and what makes our bodies work, and what happens when something doesn’t work. My aunt is a registered nurse and brought the idea to me as well.
I knew I couldnt leave my job to go into the RN program. I made it into the LPN program and graduated in a year. Within that year, I also received my Associate’s in Liberal Arts. It took me about 4 years, and I was finally able to go back to school, and in May 2026, I will receive my ADN/RN Associate’s degree.
Our children have been my motivation. They sit with me and study, they see the perseverance I have to finish, even when it seems to be too much, and I want to quit, they help push me through. Our two older boys are now EMTs due to how much they enjoyed learning with me and being empathetic and strong for the people we take care of.
I found that going back to school at a later age, I needed to lean on my family and learn how to ask for help. Going back to school and working and raising a family has been the most difficult but most rewarding and amazing thing I could have done for me and for my family, and for me.