Picture this: you are young, fresh out of high school, the world is your oyster - er, make that your sea scallop.
(Oysters are remarkably expensive.
) Your parents sit you down and explain to you that, honey, there just isn't enough money to get your sister the braces she needs, as well as pay for your college education.
You don't have enough time to earn the money to pay for tuition.
What do you do? If you didn't guess, that person was me, and it seems as though history is repeating itself.
Due to the steady decline of the economy, I can no longer afford to pay for my son's college education, and I had lost days of sleep, dreading the conversation I was about to have with him.
I'm not sure how my son reacted the way he did - perhaps a product of perfect parenting, I don't know - but he told me to relax; he had it all figured out.
Months ago, and apparently with keen foresight, my son had applied online for a government grant.
He applied for a state grant, knowing his chances would be high of receiving money from the government to pay for his education.
Boy, did he manage to calm me down.
His application had gone through and the state government was about to give him a heap of money for his education.
So, how did a state grant save my life? Well, when my parents had the same conversation with me years ago, I decided not to go back to school.
I got a manual labour job that paid well, but had me working 6 days a week doing hard labour.
I tried to save up to go back to school, but the call of the money was too strong and I never ended up going back to school.
When we had kids, my worst fear was that they wouldn't receive adequate education and would wind up in the same situation as I had been in, at an extremely young age.
I couldn't, for the life of me, imagine my 17-year-old waking up at 5 a.
m.
only to assemble parts in some sort of assembly line.
I was constantly stressed about one of our kids having this same Fate, and I constantly expressed these worries to both my spouse and my children.
When they were young into their teenage years, I took on a second job.
My fears had gotten the best of me and I decided that no money was enough money, and picked up an overnight shift 3 times a week.
I nearly died.
A middle-aged person is not supposed to be working that often, no matter what the cause.
I, however, did not realize this and kept pushing myself.
Everyone was worried for me.
I was tired all the time, irritable, and still stressed.
My son telling me to relax was the first and only thing that helped me to realize how over-exerted I was.
I felt I could rest a bit easier now that I not only knew that my son definitely wanted to attend college, but that it was definitely paid for.
Since my, ahem, "recovery" I've looked into some statistics about tuition and government grants.
It seems that I am not the only parent who is more than concerned about their children's' education opportunities, and who are concerned about how they can provide their kids with as many opportunities as possible.
I bet that applying for a state grant could save more lives than just my own.