The High School Years

High school, oh high school. How did I go so wrong?

I'll be straight up, by the time I started high school, I did not fit in. I had a very small group of friends, outsiders, but they weren't like real friends. They were more like people I knew and sat with on the bus and at lunch. I couldn't talk to them like real friends.

I was a smart girl with no motivation. I tested well and was placed in all honors classes. I was so not motivated. I had already set a pattern of leaving school early or just plain not showing up. (This started in middle school.) It seemed like my mom didn't care. Or maybe she just didn't have the energy to fight with me anymore.

I was 14 years old when I decided that school just wasn't for me and I told my mom that I did not plan on going anymore. Yes folks, I am a high school drop out. I don't even have a 9th grade education.

I would like to place blame on my mother for just "letting me" quit school. I'm sure it is more complex than that. I can't imagine any of my children telling me they weren't going to school anymore and my only response being "Ok".

Not finishing school is my only true regret in life. I was a kid. I did not know how this would truly impact my future.