My 1st day back to college Fall of 2016

This is me below and I can't believe that I decided to go back to college. I was a 1978 baby so I was 38 years old at this time. But, I decided that I had no other options. When I first left my estranged ex-husband he told me that all I could do was become a stripper. I am not going to lie there was one semester where I researched all the locations. I had a classic outfit and name picked out. Then I saw a video of a man who like me was struggling except he was single and in college. He did the same things and he decided that he was worth more than this. He decided not to do it for all the same reasons that I had questioned. I don't think I would have lasted very long as an empathic and highly sensitive human being. I don't look down on those who chose this occupation it's not easy and there is drama, drugs, and arrests. I thought well maybe I could open a classy club where it's about the body as art and not exploitation for ages 25+ only. I had taken drawing 101 and it changed my perception about the body form. When I started talking about this in my life group I thought they were all going to lose it. The host was very upset with my ideas and accused me of making her husband have unfaithful thoughts. I was like what? Some friends said I would love it and be good at it. I did so much research and took a pole class. Well, my son's were not okay with this and they really cared about me they were young and very upset. Walking out of that class in a shady area of Middletown, New York I saw a man in a car and feel I am lucky to be okay from that day. The class was not that great a 27 year old stripper about to retire was there alone so it wasn't like a real class at all. This occupation would have require time, nights and weekends, and plastic surgery.

This sign was part of a peace garden at the college with a few fountains and benches. It really nice and peaceful there. That's me in the reflection.

This photo is very significant for me and I even took a vivid neon glow of the same flower a few years after this photo on 2018. I will post it below or in another blog or maybe both? This was the first page of a presentation for my last undergraduate class. I submitted the slide show to the professor without the text or notes. We were required to send in every assignment and when the portal did have the option I emailed the slide show worried about presenting as I couldn't submit anything. This was the only assignment the entire semester that ended up not being submitted like everything else. Going to college as a Mom is a lot harder than the average student. Most professors were compassionate not this one. This was the day my Grandma died though and the first thing I did was shoot this photo. I was pulling out of my driveway to go say goodbye to her. Everyone lied to her and told her I was a dentist that I made it through dental school so she wouldn't worry about me. I tired twice once in 2011 ands again in 2013. When I was 20 she bought me all my text books for one semester and cared to help me. She refused to let me take public transportation downtown Buffalo with $336 she said it was too dangerous she got me a ride. I think she was the only decent person with compassion in my family. She had passion for my success when nobody else did. She believed in me and so when she died I made a promise to her that I would enroll back into school in her honor. I signed up on World Photography Day August 19th and didn't even know it was a national day. I never planned this I just did it and it wasn't a back up plan and I didn't even have one of those and I didn't even have a camera. I will look for my essay where I wrote about this for Black & White Photography. It's also National Aviation Day which was an unexpected surprise. My Grandma took me on my first Seaplane airplane ride in the 1000 Islands one summer. I was 5 or 6 years old and she always had a sense of adventure and happiness. This was my first flight I believe as my Dad took us all to Florida that Fall which was my second flight in a commercial jet. My Grandma thought I was going to grow up to be a doctor since I was a survivor and named after my doctor Wendy. The bracelet SKY ended up being my trademark which I design July of 2018. It was the theme of a public art walk show that I did in 2019.