This Is Not A Post

I've maxed out my library card borrowing picture books. That’s how I’m getting my kicks these days. No, I’m not pregnant. I’m thrill-seeking. Parenting is a series of adrenaline rushes, one after another, but it isn’t perfect.

The problem with kids is that they don't last. They grow too fast leaving those around them mumbling banal observations like, "gee, little Jimmy has grown so much," as stunned minds try to comprehend.

Children are transitory but educational debt is forever.

Really nothing gets the heart pounding, sweat glands moist and hair follicles standing on end, like exorbitant quantities of debt. That’s the rush I’m talking about.

I guess I’m kind of into the whole thirty year thing. I’ve got a thirty year mortgage, a thirty year plan to hike the Appalachian Trail and now I’ll have a matching thirty years of educational debt.

And you thought I was kidding when I said, "This is not a post." It's more like one of those annoying letters you get from your credit card company informing you that the terms of your "agreement" have been changed.

NOTICE: Until I've completed my MFA, The Sunday Hiker will be a monthly, rather than a weekly blog.

The picture books? Ah, you see, it’s the MFA in Writing for Children through Simmons College.

As I often do, I've piled more onto my plate than I can eat. I can take a bite of everything but I can't eat it all. Except the education. I'm going to eat every bite of this expensive education and lick the plate clean.

You may have a hard time taking a tall stack of picture books seriously (I myself feel like I'm getting away with something) but I calculated what I'm paying per class. Let me tell you, I'm dead serious about seeking these thrills.

And what about hiking the Appalachian Trail you ask? Well let’s just say, the way the plan is structured they’ll be a big balloon payment coming up.