Peel 2: The future has always been bright

"Since education is the key... you now, my dear Serah, have the master key. May you go on to open those doors - not quite sure which, for the rest of us who didn't quite earn them keys yet, but have watched and cheered you on in your quest for yours these many years....." Toasting my friend Serah during a ceremony to celebrate her graduation with her second Masters in some Human Resource thing or the other.

Me I've been going to school... college, for the longest time. 9 yrs actually, and I'm yet to get a bachelorate degree. I could try to explain why a simple four year degree program has turned out to be a decade long quest, but like I said before, I don't give excuses.

I mean, I could tell you that I have all these many years had to work full time, party part time, dodge the authorities - sometimes; and to be frank with you, been rather hard pressed to put in any time or effort towards studying.... but me I won't. Others have faced tougher odds and made it in half the time.

And yet, I despaireth not. Something to do with my folks always believing in me to this very day. I am very bright, they insist, always have been. I am not sure about that, never have been. I recently looked up my cumulative GPA, which of course they have not seen, and it really was nothing to write home about. Of course, the four Es didn't help much... E, I assumed, standing for incomplete... a good summation of my life's endevours so far - incomplete.

And a sad one too.

Depressing actually. Me I actually had stopped attending my friends' graduation parties... I mean, watching someone with whom you attended College 101 (I think that was the name of the case. Forgive me that was 9 years ago... there has been a lot of courses since then) getting his first degree, and then his second and yes his third... and him introducing you as his first friend in college all these three times and expecting you to tell all them curious cats that you did not graduate with anything... better yet that you did not graduate yet, can wash out even the brightest of spirits.

This year, though, I relented and attended several graduations... not my friends', but their younger siblings'. These kids who I used to give rides home from college... that same college that I helped them get into in the first place.... showing their older brothers and sisters how to go about filling those applications.

These kids who I had lent my text books to... instead of selling them like I would have loved to. The same kids who'd invaded my house at one point or the other and pillaged my fridge before they could get jobs and afford McDees. Yes, those same kids who'd taken advantage of my long working hours and partied on my beer before they were of legal drinking age.

And so I did feel duty bound to attend their graduations... if only to remind them of where they are coming from... or, more aptly, what exit they missed... or was it a rest area that I got delayed at. See, Me I missed... nah, I skipped all the core english requirement courses.... part of why I have not graduated.... hence my use of metaphor is rather sketchy if I may say so myself.

************************************

But this was not always so... Me I really was a bright young kid... so they'd said. They being everyone else.... I learned to read when I was fairly young... By the time I was seven I read my favorite book- The Bible, daily... and with an uncanny fluency. That of course is no validation of my genius... but, for some reason, i