A $10,000 piece of paper

It arrived in the mail Saturday. No fanfare, no fancy envelope, no frame. It was just a piece of stiff paper in a white, flat cardboard mailing envelope. It was stamped "DO NOT BEND" and mailed form Columbia, Mo., and I knew exactly what it was when I spied it in the mailbox yesterday evening.

It is my diploma for my master's degree. FInally, it had arrived.

I have to be honest in saying that I sort of doubted that I had actually earned the degree until I had the tangible proof in my hand. Online learning has many wonderful advantages, but it also keeps one disconnected from actual campus communication. Despite all my e-mails and filled-out forms, I wanted proof. Now I have it.

In the winter of 2004 I finally started in earnest to seek a master's degree program that I would find both educationally stimulating and useful but one that also had some flexibility, so I would not need to travel a lot or be locked into a regular class meeting time. I though I found the perfect one at the University of Nebraska, even if it would have required a short residency on campus each summer in addition to the online offerings. Then I uncovered the new program from the University of Missouri. It was everything I had sought and more. Plus, it had the added prestige of being from one of the nation's finest journalism schools -- and no residency requirement.

The past two years were a struggle, a challenge, a life-changing experience. At times I thought I would just about keel over from the amoount of work. I learned to balance my work and professional life with my academic needs, but sometimes it took a mistake to learn how to balance. At the beginning of a couple of those semesters, I was not sure how I would ever get all the work done. I learned how to prioritize and what was unnecessary.

And now, I have my reward.

Not only did I get the degree that I wanted, I accomplished a personal and professional goal. I also learned a lot of good material that will help me professionally in the future. And, come Spetember, I get a big ol' pay increase!

So that stiff piece of paper with a bunch of frilly scrollwork and Old English letters and my name on it will someday get displayed. I am not sure how or where, but I need to put that up. It symbolizes a huge accomplishment to me, and I paid a lot for it. During these last two years I also made sacrifices -- of time I could have devoted to my work or my students or my home or my friends or my own life. Now, I can put some of those on front burners again. I look forward to it.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.