The End or Beginning

I am 68 years young. Looking back, I have always been a story teller. When I was a toddler, I learned the skill listening to the stories my Cherokee grandmother told me. I carried on the tradition and entertained my unruly brothers with stories I made up. In high school, I turned that writing talent into journalism and worked for the local newspaper and later worked for local magazines and newspapers. I've always wanted to be a writer, but family life pulled me away. My mother convinced me it wasn't a real job. I had a family to care for. So, I followed other career paths.

The first time in college, I had a double major in biology and chemistry and a minor in math and was headed for a career in bio-chemistry. Mom wanted me to get a teaching degree and find a husband. I married for love and he joined the Navy and we traveled. The next time in college I took art classes in Spain and got my Associates Degree. I had talent and sold sculptures, watercolors and paintings. But when we moved back the the U.S., there wasn't a big market in what I did, so it was back to family and housework.

When I became disabled because of physical limitations, I considered returning to school and turning my AA in art into a BA. I qualified for a Pell grant and had given up on a degree in writing because there were no schools in my area that offered any courses. I was contacted by Full Sail University and was told about their online program and given the opportunity to transfer. That was three years ago. Even though I had three years of college credits, they were too old to transfer and I had to start from scratch. Full Sail's online courses are set up as an intense program over four weeks. I start my last class this week. I am scheduled to graduate at the end of this month, but since I am also scheduled for a hip replacement on Nov. 13, I had to reschedule my ceremony for February to give me time to go through physical therapy and hopefully walk across the stage to receive my "diploma".

It has been an amazing three years. I've learned to write a screenplay, write scripts for animated series and comics and am currently working on a good science fiction thriller movie script. If the last three years have gone so well, I can only wonder what the next three will bring.

~ Ann Melrose