Out of State Possibilities

Hello folks, I am Gail Gifford, single, mother of four and living in South Carolina. I have lived in five different states throughout the years. I was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, also home of Ford Motor Company Headquarters. Those 32 years were great in Michigan and I have many fond memories of my hometown and still have very strong friendships up north. I then started moving. First to TN when my husband landed a job with Saturn Corp. At that time no one knew what Saturn Corp was, but I was going there to be part of the process of developing a new car company. As my husband stayed behind in Troy, I was in TN with four children and the youngest only ten days old. To make a long story short, and I may elaborate on it sometime in the future, I ended up divorced four years later and was on my own raising a rather large family with no family close by to help.That was 17 years ago and boy have I changed and so has my life. 

I loved being a mom, just loved everything about it. The baby years, diapers, first steps, school, high school and fund raisers, college applications etc. Being a mom is so rewarding but there was always something missing. Something that I wanted for years, probably right out of high school back in 1974, instead I got married and that dream/vision never happened.  Years have passed and the kids got older, they were doing their own things now.  I got married again in 2002 and then again divorced in 2002...I called it the year from H _ _ _.  ha ha  Otherwise called, a learning experience. After that I decided to do something for myself and go back to school.  I had moved from Michigan to TN, from TN to FL, from FL back to TN, from TN to NH and now I am here in SC. Who would have ever thought that I would have been so mobile later in life, but I was.  I attended Aquinas College in Nashville TN when I started to fulfill my dream. Loved school, found out that this dream of mine was hard but I could do it. After all, my adviser said, "Gail if you can raise four kids on your own, work a full time job and take care of all the responsibilities of kids, family and home, you could do this". So those words stayed in my head from one class to the next.  I moved to NH and transferred my credits to Granite State College. There was a professor at Aquinas College that had told me about the Lifelong Learning Center and that they had changed their name to Granite State College. She had advised me to give them a call and see what transfer process was. I did check out other NH Colleges to see about transferring my credits. None of which would take them all like Granite State College did. I had some additional core classes to take but I was "IN" and at 50ish, I needed every credit I had earned.  Long story short, I started my classes at Granite State and soon found out what a wonderful college it was. The teachers were so receptive to understanding that we all had full time jobs, families, other responsibilities etc. on top of going to school, homework and test. They worked with me and I got through the classes.  Then came the news that my job at Ford Motor Credit was going away, they were closing the doors at our regional office in Bedford and I was moving to SC. I needed four classes to stay grandfathered in and I had only completed two. So, how was I going to do this in a mere two months. I had a friend that I met in my Economic class in the Manchester campus that advised me about the weekend college classes.  So, I crammed in two of these classes and I was good to go when I moved. I finished my associates degree as an on-line learner living in a one bedroom apartment and with the computer on the kitchen table until my new house was built in Simpsonville (another dream). I then went on to get my BS degree all on-line. OH, I did have one wonderful adventure on the Isles of Shoals where I took Oceanography. till this day I say, "that was the best four credits I ever earned".

I graduated in September 2009 from Granite State College with an Adult College Degree and graduated Magna Cum Laude. I completed my goal/dream and also feel I am such a good example to my children as well as my peers at work.  I continue to motivate my coworkers to go back to school. Of course there are ones that say, "I am too old". My reply is always, "you are never too old for school, never too old to learn and never to old to make those dreams come true". I am so happy to be able to blog for the college and pass on my thoughts and experiences with potential new students. 

My college degree has opened doors for me at Ford Motor Credit as well as making me a better person, better parent and more open minded to all of life's' challenges.

So when do I start my Masters Program?  Boy I need to think about that soon, I am missing school....who would have ever thought!