After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, I headed off to North Texas State University in Denton, Texas. I was the first person on either side of my parents’ families to go to college. Sadly in those days there was little or no guidance counseling of any kind. Girls were expected to become secretaries, teachers, or nurses. Secretary was definitely out, and I’ve now tried both of the other two. In my junior year in high school I was part of a huge national testing program for thousands of high school students across the country called Project Talent. The results of that testing came back saying I should probably go into engineering or medicine. I still get info from Project Talent every few years. I don’t think they can believe that I am on a different career path every time they contact me!
I really wanted to be a veterinarian, but at that point in my life I didn’t have any guidance on how to go about following that path, so off I went to NTSU. I have to admit that I was part of the nerdy group in high school. We were the ones taking Trigonometry, third and fourth year Latin, Organic Chemistry, and the like. I found most of the usual high school activities, and my fellow students, to be pretty immature. I was glad to leave high school and on with the next chapter in my life. With the wonderful clarity of hindsight, I realize I could probably have gotten into any number of more prestigious colleges or universities, but I was perfectly happy just to head off to Denton! As Robert Frost so aptly put it, “I took the one [road] less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
Last week I told you a little about my extreme distaste for softball and volleyball. You can imagine my dismay when I got to North Texas and learned that the great State of Texas had also decreed in its infinite wisdom that in order to graduate from college in Texas you had to take two years of Physical Education classes. Here we go again! In a moment of extreme optimism or stupidity, I am not sure which, I signed up for Tennis 101. I have already told you about my inability to hit objects with implements. What in the world was I thinking?
I was always in a hurry to get on with my life, so my master plan included graduating from college as quickly as possible. My first semester I took 22 hours of classes. That included seven three-hour classes and the stupid one credit hour tennis class! I bet you can see where this is going. I made all A’s in my “real” classes and a C in that horrid tennis class. All of my friends and family will tell you that I am inherently an optimistic person. What do I do in the Spring Semester? Again, I have 22 hours of classes, seven real classes and the one hour PE class. Being the eternal optimist, I decided to give tennis another try. Surely, I could learn to hit the damn ball this semester. I was definitely a slow learner on that one! Once again seven A’s and a C in tennis.
OK, PE classes, I have learned my lesson. The following year I took Modern Dance both semesters and got the rest of the PE requirement out of the way. I can’t say that I particularly liked the Modern Dance classes either, but at least I could make an A in them. We wore black tights and leotards and pranced around looking dramatic and meaningful. Have you seen the old Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye movie, White Christmas? That is one of my all-time favorite movies; Bill and I always watch it at some point over the Christmas season and usually a couple of other random times during the year, sort of a Christmas in July kind of thing. Do you perhaps remember the song from the movie called “The Theater” with Danny Kaye and a modern dance ensemble? Every time I see that scene, I have to laugh out loud. It reminds me so much of my modern dance classes. Clearly I was not cut out for a career in the theater either!
One day in the dorm at North Texas I got a package from my parents. It was a manual typewriter in a leather case. A typewriter? Really? I must admit that I was less than gracious in my reaction, but I did sign up for a typing class the next semester. I never took typing or any kind of business classes in high school. I thought it was not academic enough, but I sat through a semester of typing. Most of the people in the class were business majors while I was the lone Arts and Science major. It was touch and go for a while there, learning to type on those old electric typewriters, but I persevered. I finally got my speed and accuracy up enough to earn an A in the class. No more of that tennis ball and racket stuff! As the years, and decades have flown by, that typing class has proven to be invaluable, even as I sit here today at my keyboard typing! I at least learned to use all ten fingers and not look at the keyboard as I typed, at least not too often!
©The Eclectic Grandma, 2017
