A shout out to the BroMeister

All things considered, my brother is rather marvelous. In his BroMeister way he has expressed pride in my being in a doctoral program. When I told him I was writing comps he asked if I would be "doctor" afterwards. Grinning big I broke the news to him there was more to do after that, about a year-and-a-half more to do. "Oh - well cool."

I appreciate his interest and pride because we're pretty tight…have bonded over a lot of shared unpleasant history growing up so if anyone can understand us it would be each other. Though he occasionally tells me what I'm doing is nothing like what is up in his life - I keep telling him that's okay! There's no reason to compare. I'm not in this for any one-up-sibling-ness (never a factor) and I'm not in this for the letters after my name. Hey - it's me - Sheryl - and will be that forever.

So why am I doing this? During this recent tumultuous up and down time, that question has been floating through my head. Ultimately I want to contribute to the education of youth in a different manner than when I was teaching.

Coming from an environment where I was told I wouldn't amount to anything has made me driven (in a good and not-so-good way) but in the end - I'm still me - a person who is amazed I'm in an freakin' doctoral program and made this reality out of several sorry-ass periods of my life.

So - yes! I will take a day to help my brother move and assist him to travel forward in his life, create a new beginning, and hopefully find peace - at least that is my dream for him and his family. I would do anything for this guy. I probably would have taken the day off work anyway to help him because he totally kicked-ass last year when I painted my whole condo the first few days I moved in. When all's said and done that is what life is about: other people.

I am blown away at the amount of support I have received in the last few weeks: encouragement beyond my wildest expectations. Continuing to trust that and derive strength from that for the next few weeks is top on my "to do" list. SO thank you to everyone who has expressed a "go for it" message - it has truly been felt in my heart.