Never Too Late: A Mother’s Journey

I am a 38-year-old mother of six from South Georgia. I was a homemaker for 16 years and became a mother at 17 years old. The high school I attended in 2003 was a Christian Academy that never taught us any essential educational subjects that everyone in life needs to know. The school was also unaccredited, so all the time I spent there didn’t count. I couldn’t prove I had completed any high school education, and I would have had to redo every single year I had already finished—or so I thought.

I didn’t want to go there, so I decided I would get my GED later in life. For many years, I put it off so I could focus on helping my children get their education. That was one of the hardest parts of being an uneducated single parent—I couldn’t even help my own children with their homework because it was stuff I had never learned myself. That was so embarrassing for me as a parent.

In 2021, I decided to go into the healthcare field, but the only job I could get was as a housekeeper. I loved the residents, and they loved me. That’s where I found my calling—I wanted to be a nurse. But once again, I couldn’t move forward because I had no education. The only position I could qualify for was as a CNA, which I love doing, but my body doesn’t. Now, I want to become an LPN. At 38 years old, I’m finally working on my GED through Essential Education. Maybe now, my dreams of becoming an LPN can come true—and maybe one day, my children will say, “Nothing ever stopped my mom from being the best mother ever and doing the right thing.” No matter what age I finally get my GED, I know I’m doing this for myself and for them.