What I Have in Common with the Scarecrow

I dare say most people have seen The Wizard of Oz. We are familiar with the Scarecrow, the character that longed for a brain. The lesson he learned along his journey with Dorothy and Toto? Beware of green-skinned witches with fire. No, that wasn't it. The lesson he learned was that he was indeed smart, he just hadn't recognized it. He was, in fact, the leader of the pack.
Tuesday starts hopefully the final year of college for me. I have learned many things from going back to school; only a few of them came from the books. I learned that I should have gone back to school a long time ago. At the same time, I have learned that I went back at just the right time. A contradiction, you say? It is, yet it isn't. Let me clarify.
My junior and senior years in high school (1994-95), I received letters from the University of Miami, Michigan, even Oberlin College. (If you have any knowledge of classical music, you would know how STUPID I am for not giving that a second look.) My dream was to be a music teacher, and follow in the footsteps of Mr. Whitener, my favorite teacher. In spite of my guidance counselor's urgings, and the advice of Mr. Carswell, my band director at Hibriten, one of my life's big regrets was that I did not follow up on any of that.
I needed a break from school. I didn't have the drive, the desire, and was simply lazy. It was an opportunity I missed, because I didn't want to take it.
What I did was go to work for a few months in the supermarket I was working in, until I lost my job. Then, I mooched, thinking I would somehow magically be all right. I got part-time jobs, eventually going full-time into Christian retail. It was here I grew in knowledge and skill, working on the side as Music Director in my home church. I met my wife. We had Levi. I enjoyed those moments, and met some great friends. I grew up in the school of hard knocks.
(I did not intend to tell my life's story. I simply wanted to make a point to the faithfulness of God in the life of an ungrateful whelp.)
In 2008, I finally went back to school. I was ready. I appreciate it more. I know that it means more for my future now. Back then, it would have been something to do, and I would have rebelled against it. Now, I am striving, working my tail off, and here it is- the last year for my degree. Tomorrow starts what will be the realization of a dream. I am thankful for the lessons God has taught me in the past fifteen years. I just wish I had learned some of them in 1994. If I only had a brain then.
So yeah, I am a lot like the Scarecrow. Only I can not recite the Pythagorean Theorem.