-27

i remember getting my degree.
doing my finals was a nightmare. i thought i knew it all. i thought i had prepared everything. i thought i was on top of my game.
first paper up was sociological theory – that was the easy one. that was the one i was going to slaughter.
how wrong was i?
very.
i came out of the exam room a beaten and battered man. a bunch of us went into the canteen to talk it over. none of us were happy.
depressed. worried. scared.
i went home and tried to study for the next day’s exam.
five days and several exams.
lots of coffee. lots of sweets. not enough sleep.
final paper taken. in the canteen again. lots of talk about how we all thought it had gone. for most of us it would be the last time we saw each other. i was so nervous i even missed the signals being given off by one of the foxier ladies on the course.
all that was left was the wait.
summer.
working as a caretaker. sometimes dull work. sometimes had work. good money and only once did i kill anything (those gerbils still haunt me).
except before that i got a call from college asking me to go in to transcribe my exam scripts because they couldn’t read them. ah the embarrassment.
so i got to see just how bad my work was. joy of joys.
back to being a caretaker.
buffing floors. sweeping playgrounds. washing windows.
waiting.
waiting.
waiting.
then it happens.
plop.
letter on the floor.
it is the one.
i hold it.
i look at it.
i look at it some more.
then i look at it again.
work up the courage to open it.
read it once.
read it twice.
have my mum read it.
yay i have passed. phew.
no time to celebrate have to get to work to clean two toilet blocks.
i never got to wear the gown and mortar board. just another thing to add to the list of regrets.