Way too far from the tree...

A query about the newlyweds led my father and I reminiscing about the old BYU days or rather his old BYU days. What I gleaned from our journey down memory lane was something that I felt deserved posting, if only for posterity sake.

With five daughters and one more on the way my parents started back to school, I say parents, though my father was the only one in full matriculation, make no mistake, it took two to get his graduate degree! However, for now I will share some of my fathers efforts of what it took to start and finish a BACHELORS AND MASTERS degree in five years being the father of (now) six girls. We lived in Payson, Utah and dad would drive everyday to BYU (via no freeway) a drive which took about an hour. Prior to college dad had been an iron worker so he took on welding jobs there at BYU to help get through school. When the last of the three, five story high-rise dorms had been completed his boss said okay were done, but with unshakable determination my father's quick response was, "Well, I am not" (done with school that was). His boss told him if he could get to the University of Utah (probably another 75 minutes north of BYU) then he would have a job for him. Because of union rules and the company not wanting to pay over time my dad devised a plan with his boss. He was to work 12 hour days on both Saturday and Sunday (driving to and from the University of Utah from Payson, not counting the drive each day to BYU) and his boss would work out the other details. So my father, in order to complete his master's degree took on the work. Mind you, back at home he still had cows to milk, gardens to weed, orchards to tend to (that was the only way my parents could put food on the table) and six daughters who claimed his attention, not too mention, his beautiful wife, my mother. (On a side note about the cows; my grandfather, told my father he could go and gather hay along the creek beds on his land to feed our milk cows). In order to get to his classes on time, my father would bring a change of clothing and change in a dusty old room. Utilizing every minute and every resource he had, dad completed his education.

I hear his words and all but hang my head in shame.... To think that I am trying to decide if signing up for a class on line will be too difficult! Boy, just how far did this apple fall from the tree?