If I could tell my 20-year-old self – something, The “D” word hits one of my favorite couples, and a rained-out baseball game.

“Baby, go to college and start a career now. If you wait, life is going to kick your ass!”.

Today’s WP writing prompt asked. I’m answering.

I know they say that no matter how old you are, it’s never too late to go back to school, but I will also add to that – that it’s a lot harder if you’re older.

If you’re in your 20’s – Do it while you’re young! Go to college NOW!

I was raising a kid when I was 20, and I was still partying and living my best life, so I wasn’t thinking about college.

I wanted to go.

I knew I should go to college right then and there.

Well, I did go for a little bit, but not the way I should have been.

I enrolled for Psychology because at the time – that’s what I thought I wanted to do, but I dropped those classes because then I thought I wanted to be a nurse, so I took up CNA classes at first, and planned to get my LPN license. I left those classes because Massage therapy sounded nice, but I wasn’t interested in the fact that we had to get completely naked in class, and work on each other (because that’s part of Massage therapy) in real life. Of course, we were all covered by thin sheets, but still.

I left those classes, and when I finally figured out what I really wanted to do – I should have just gone to college, stuck with it, finished and got into my career young.

I always knew what I wanted to be or do from the time I was 15, so it wasn’t like I was still “trying to figure it out”. Or was I? Maybe I was just trying to make sure before I enrolled in classes again.

When I finally knew for sure……………….

I just didn’t feel like I had time for that because when was I going to spend time with my kid, or have time to party? I was making the wrong choices and felt like I had all the time in the world for college, and “I’ll go one day”. That was my mind-set and I wish it wasn’t back then, but the reality is – even though I am now 43, and graduated college with two Criminal Justice degrees, it was so much harder to balance work, kids, bills, and life in general when I did finally go to college at the age of 39.

I graduated with my associate degree in 2023, and my BA degree in 2025, and I am so proud of that.

It is proof that no matter how old you are, you can still go back to school and do something with yourself, but – it is so much harder as you get older and have to balance different things, meet school papers and projects deadlines, and so on.

If I had a chance to tell my 20-year-old self – something – it would be not to wait. To go to college while you’re 20 and only have one kid. While you’re not working crazy hours and overtime and paying all these bills, and losing your damn mind trying to survive in your 40’s.

I am still so proud of all the men and women who do the same thing.

Raise kids, pay bills, work their asses off and are my age – just now going to college to better their lives.

I will also say that as we get older – even if we graduate college and have the best GPA’s and degrees, it’s not enough to get the career you want because now you’re a lot older, and people our ages are looking forward to only working the next 20-something years and living the rest of our lives having fun, retired and happy – not just trying to start the career you wanted to start many years ago while you were younger, and didn’t get your ass into college right away.

It is hard going to college when you’re older.

It is hard finding a position in a career you want when you’re older.

I do suggest if you’re in your teens or 20’s and you’re reading this – you plan to go to college right after high school and get the career you want while you’re still young enough to do so.

As for me, I sadly live in an area / small town – where there isn’t many or any opportunities to be in the career I want, so, I will be moving somewhere bigger and better in the next few months to a year and making sure I make this happen for myself, but don’t wait to go to college and think you can be what you want to be later, because sometimes – that doesn’t happen, it may be too late, and you just need to motivate yourself to do it now.

Hell, even if you’re in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and still thinking about college and wish you could – you SHOULD!

It’s never too late. It just becomes a little harder, but if I did it, why not you?

SO, I’d just tell my 20-year-old self to enroll, finish now, and become what you’ve always wanted to become.

Don’t wait.

Besides that……………..

I think by now – we all went to bed last night or work up this morning to the shocking and sad news that:

(Image taken from TMZ)

I was scrolling Facebook last night, and I scrolled past a TMZ post reporting it, and we all know that TMZ doesn’t report it – if it’s not facts, right? They are my “go-to” when I want to check sources and make sure the news I hear is real.

I was so heartbroken to hear this because what the hell?

Jelly and Bunnie seemed like they were so happy.

They seemed like the perfect couple.

I just read Bunnie’s new book about how they were healing together after everything that happened in their past with each other and as individuals.

I heard a few months ago, Bunnie was doing treatments to try to get pregnant and have their baby.

So, this came out of nowhere for everyone, and I think the entire world is feeling this.

I’m not a huge Jelly roll fan, but him as a person and all the good things that he has done for others – makes him an amazing person, and we all know I absolutely adore and love Bunnie XO. She’s real, raw and doesn’t care what people think. She inspires others to not care what people think, and she has done so much good for others as well.

So, to hear that he filed for this divorce, but also hearing that it was a mutual agreement, it’s sad, but it is what it is.

It just proves that when others see another couple looking all cuddled up and happy, all cute and think that they are “the perfect couple”, we never know what goes on behind closed doors, or what struggles their marriage is having.

A married couple could look so happy and perfect outdoors around people, go home together, and be miserable. The wife is unhappy and truly wants a divorce, but they have kids, assets, a business, or whatever else they own together, so it will be tough and expensive to get out of the marriage, or the husband feels that way. Maybe both – but not all “happy and perfect” marriages, are the way they seem and Jelly and Bunnie proved that.

Someone in our family – or our friend groups can seem like they have the healthiest, best marriage and in reality, when the couple is home alone – they’re doing nothing but fighting, or not speaking to each other and not sleeping in the same bed anymore.

We never know the reality of what couples DON’T want us to see, so – we think and see what they portray, and that’s how it is now with Bunnie and Jelly. He filed in May, and nobody knew anything until they just announced it and news channels reported it.

Bunnie was with Jelly when he had nothing. She helped him financially, emotionally and mentally when he was going through some of his darkest times, and she helped raised his daughter, and he did a lot of things for her as well, so I’m hoping they remain good friends, continue to be there for each other, and get to live their individual happy lives now – apart. 💔

NOBODY SAW THIS ONE COMING, but that’s life.

******

Baseball:

We drove an hour 1/2 away to another part of Minnesota last night for the double-header our team was supposed to play, but while GPS showed at first it was 2-hours, it was about an hour and some minutes or so.

We got their and my kids were speechless at how beautiful and huge this other school was.

They have their own ICE arena, and my kids joked that if those kids ever came to our little town, they’d want to turn around go back to their little town.

Anyway, it was cold.

The weather called for storms, and it was lightening with rumbles of thunder way off in the distance, but we all knew it was going to eventually get us.

The coaches kept an eye on the weather, and there were talks about either waiting it out for the 2nd game, or rescheduling. As we sat on the bleachers, the clouds got lower, darker, and weather apps were saying, “Take shelter now”. That part of Minnesota has seen a few tornados, and I just told my kids to be ready to run to the car, open it and start it up, and I’d grab Elijah (my little dude), and I’d run to the car as well.

I wanted to make sure they were safe, while I made sure my little dude was safe – if anything major happened, but – thankfully, it just started pouring right after we won our first game against this school, and the boys all ran into the dugout to eat hotdogs, and whatever else the moms and dads brought.

We brought the chips, and I felt like I should have gotten something healthy, but I was so happy to hear that almost every kid on the team dug into the chips, and they were good with it. 😁

My little dude came running over to me and told me the coach said he could leave because they probably weren’t playing the 2nd game. I walked over to the coach to make sure – because sometimes, my little dude likes to play around too much, but he was right.

Our Coach and the coach from the other team were talking about how it wasn’t supposed to stop raining until later, and they were talking about rescheduling. The other coach mentioned how if the boys went back onto the field, they’d be cold, wet and miserable and I was glad he made that call.

So, we were able to leave and get home earlier than we expected, and it was nice to not have to drive late on dark, country roads. We drove while it was still light outside and got home safely by the grace of God!

The boys have an hour-long practice today.

I had to laugh when we were leaving the field yesterday, walking to the car and my daughter ran past me.

She yelled, “Go! Go! Run! I stole a box of the chips we brought!”.

She was running, so I thought she was serious. I yelled her name and told her to get back by me, but she stopped running, laughed and said she was just joking. She smiled and said, “If I were to steal anything – it wouldn’t be a box of chips!”. She was raised right, and she knows better, so I’m not worried about her stealing anything, but I did think she took the box of chips – maybe thinking they were done with it.

I had brought two boxes, and she said she grabbed a bag, and one of the coaches told her all the boys already had chips, and they were done, so she was able to take that box home.

All-in-all, the boys had fun yesterday before the wind picked up and it started raining.

There were no tornados.

We got home safe.

I was up early this morning, and this mama hasn’t had coffee yet, so I love you all and hope you have a blessed day if you run across this!

❤️Shel❤️