The Finish Line

Week 49 has been reached at culinary college, sounds so simple in terms of weeks. This has been 11 months of solid learning, new concepts and a re-triggering of dormant knowledge. With only 21 weeks to go until the Associates Degree is in my hands, I can finally glimpse the finish line. I have been fortunate enough in life to have my career raise my children and still have the time to pursue a dream. Cooking has always been a passion of mine as well as eating good food. The willingness to try the unexpected has opened my eyes to some of the most complex dishes ever to pass my lips. I was the “black sheep” of the family most of my life. Academics always took a backseat to having fun. I always felt that life was too short to waste a moment on study; it needed to be lived, fast and hard. As we get older our views on life change, priorities are shuffled and the important things rise to the top. I came to realize that preaching to my children about what it takes to get ahead in life would be better served with me following my own sermon. I have managed through hard work to stay at the top-end of my class, to maintain a 4.0 and near perfect attendance. I have done this mostly for myself, partly to show others I could, and a small percentage of “open mouth insert foot”.  What I find humorous is when I first started school at this later stage in life, there was disbelief and doubt of my following through. I am not saying anyone was against me per say, only that the support structure was not there. As I achieved hard-earned success in my classes, the foundation of support kept getting stronger. By never wavering in my passion, I showed family and friends that this was truly my nirvana. The finish line may be close for some, but for me it is viewed as another starting line.