"To those who said to Diogenes the Cynic, 'You are an old man, take your rest', 'What?' he replied. 'If I were running in the Stadium, ought I to slacken my pace when approaching the goal? Ought I not rather to put on speed?'" - Diogenes Laertius, Live of Eminent Philosophers
The whole thing, as it turns out, starts about 28 years ago.
As longer time readers may recall, at one time I had submitted myself for consideration in the pastorate of a mainline denominational church. As part of that consideration, I had to take a 3 day psychological exam which, as turns out, determined that I was not qualified (at least from a personality standpoint) for the ministry. As part of that assessment, they also suggested that I consider going back to school, getting an advanced (Ph.D.) degree in Classical Studies, and become a college professor.
I have loved and been interested in history since I was 10 years old and found out we were going to visit my uncle in Japan. I started reading (or consuming) history. That never stopped in all the intervening years - if anything, I just kept layering on periods of history, some because of interest and some because of gaps in my education. One of the latter points was Greek and Roman History, which was definitely a gap that I had to address. At some point during the intervening years (post undergraduate for sure), I purchased a translation of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, and I was hooked.
The difficulty was when this "suggestion" came in, we were months away from our first child Nighean Gheal. The Ravishing Mrs. TB had first gone on medical leave and then was laid off; I was the only income our family had. And so, this idea was shelved as unrealistic.
---
I studied over the intervening years of course. I had a basic understanding of self taught Latin and an even more basic understanding of New Testament Greek (Ancient Greek remains beyond me). Penguin translations continued showing up on bookshelf until I exhausted that resource. Then I discovered Loeb Classics with their original text/English Translation, and my library expanded again. I purchased other history books as well (in English of course) as well as continued to feed my library with military works (and uniform pictures) from Osprey Publishing.
But there were two more children to arrive (Nighean Bhan and Nighen Dhonn) and a business to fail and financial rebuilding and a family to support and then college to pay for. Learning, it seemed, would always be an ad hoc affair for me.
Until...
Until four years ago Nighean Dhonn, whose major is Archaeology (Classical Greece), mentioned she was looking at graduate schools for her next step when she graduated. I started looking at them as well, more out of curiousity than anything else. After all, I was now in my mid-50's: a formal degree at this point seemed wildly out of place and (arguably) useless.
---
One of the programs I found was Master's Degree in Classical Studies.
It was fully remote. It did not require mastery of Greek or Latin (there is a third track, Classical Literature). It allowed up to six years to complete the program, one class at a time.
It took me time, of course. Mostly because I had "reasons" from 2022, when I first started interacting with the school. Na Clann, or at least two of them, were still in college or going. It was still the height of The Plague with the uncertainty of employment. And, as time went on, I had to contend with two layoffs.
I started two applications from 2022 to 2025; both of them expired. And then, this year, I finally stopped making excuses.
During a trip to New Home I got my paper transcripts from the storage locker. I scanned them. I had no college professors to give me references (I even wonder if any of my professors still live or are teaching; My Former Boss, my Sensei from New Home, and The Director stepped in and graciously offered to write one for me.
This thing was going to be dealt with, one way or the other.
And then last week I got word. I was accepted into a Master's Program for Classical Studies.
---
And so, in theory, later this month I start the second round - could we call it a Renaissance? - of my educational journey.
There is still work to do of course. My acceptance is "provisional"; I still have to submit all my official transcripts (As an interesting side note to those who attended colleges years ago, you will remember the painful process of calling former schools or having to mail letters to get official transcripts. This is all now completely 100% online.). My initial fee is paid. Assuming all that happens, I start classes around the end of the month (and immediately have to explain I will likely be gone for the first class as I will be in the middle of Sierra Mountains without cell coverage).
What am I going to do with this degree? Honestly, I am not sure: this is as much for personal fulfillment as it is to reach any kind of goal. A part of me says that this could play into the "Second Act", my post-retirement life (if all works out, I will graduate approximately 6 months before I plan to retire).
Sometimes it is not that the door is closed; it was just the wrong time for it to open.
