“You are a member of Phi Beta Kappa. You had a liberal arts education. You know how to think.”
When I was 42 years old, I knew I wanted to go to college. I had never attempted it in my life and wanted badly to get an education. However, I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I majored in history at the University of Cincinnati because that’s what I loved.
Four and a half years later, I graduated with high honors at 46-years-old, a grandmother (twice), summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. Oh my. But, graduate school was not even a vague consideration; I needed a job.
After five interviews at the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute for the position of administrator (later to be changed to executive director), I was offered the job. I was a bit flabbergasted to be considered, and very nervous. Besides, it seemed like it would be such a boring job. But my professor friend whose opinions I held in high esteem urged me to take the job – I could always quit later if I found something better.
I soon discovered that there couldn’t be anything better. It was a wonderful position of productivity, knowledge, and even excitement, and I was surrounded by amazing, cultured, and kind people. I loved it.
After I had worked there for a while, I asked my director one day why he had hired me. I said, after all, I couldn’t even spell psychoanalysis, let alone know anything about it. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “You are a member of Phi Beta Kappa. You had a liberal arts education. You know how to think.”
What more can I say. I spent the next eight years thinking my way through a complicated and demanding position and loved every minute of it.
MelaDee Hohs
Phoenix, Arizona