It's Never Too Late by Guy McIntosh

I find myself in a place where moving forward in life is very important. For years now I have wondered what type of legacy I will leave behind for our future generations. Not so much monetary but historically as to our name and our life choices.

In the last several years, I had some medical issues that eventually led to a three-month hospital stay. During this trying time for my family and myself, I was placed in an induced coma with all the life-saving techniques a modern hospital could apply. With that, I still contracted encephalitis among other life changing issues. After I was released, a series of physical and occupational therapy sessions lasting 16 months were necessary to get back to a “regular” lifestyle. Understandably, my desire to move forward is very important for my family and myself.

So, I recently enrolled in a storytelling class at South Mountain Community College. I did this so I may be able to understand not only how to tell a story, but how to write a story. My desire is to pass some of my life's experiences to my kids and their kids. 

At the age of 69, I had never been to college other than a brief nine-month stint at culinary school. The college process is very foreign to me. I seem to remember teachers were somewhat scary and they made me do things, like study.  (The Nerve!)

My first class we were introduced to the affirmation process of learning. Although I had applied this process to raising children, working with employees and in various communicative ways, I was perplexed. I remember school as being competitive with lots of pressure, not self-imposed, but by the process of learning.

I soon found out the storytelling class was a very comfortable no pressure way of learning. A relief fell over me like a cool sheet on a hot bed. So, here I am reading, studying, and listening to stories by other story tellers, interacting with students and the teacher, who by the way, is not some scary figure in front of class.

I am learning and re-learning words, meeting new people, and enjoying reading stories that I never thought would be interesting. I think to myself, “It's funny: This is not how I remember High School.”

As they say, it's never too late!

Thanks to all my classmates and Liz Warren.