Memories of days gone by

I moved to the Swan City when I was 20, the year was 1986. I didn't move there to go to school. I was there because I had been captured while I was a student at SCAD. My captures threw me in an alcohol and drug treatment center of all places, where I stayed for a mere six months, good thing I didn't have a problem. I had been a MS state fan all of my life because my Papaw was for State. Both of my parents had gone to Southern Miss and I had done everything imaginable to avoid USM including getting an art scholarship ripped from my hand and being told I was not welcome back at Belhaven College. Dude I mean, really now, what's up with that?
I remember the phone call. I told my parents to sit down. I'm sure they were thinking I had relapsed. Then I told them I wanted to go to school at their almamater. Dead silence at the other end, then deep sighh (of relief I'm sure). Initially I continued with my major in art later, I ended up taking another year off and work in the public schools to discover, what I thought to be, my true passion. I majored in Social Work. Funny, I guess that was the path I needed to take at the time. I worked at a county mental health facility for a year before landing a job at the facility that had given me my second chance. I worked at that private alcohol and drug facility for over seven years. I met my husband, married and started a family while working there.
Of course I'm not a certified alcohol and drug counselor with a degree in social work now. I'm a mommy who home schools our children. I try to keep the house clean, I raise vegetables in the back yard with the chickens and I am more fulfilled that I could have ever imagined.