One of the biggest events of my life

**ronstew** · 15th May 06, 07:25 AM

It will be the first time I wear a kilt in public, but that isn't what makes it such a big deal. I have been holding off posting this until it became official because I didn't think it was really going to happen. If you look at some of my older posts, you'll see some cryptic references to it.

From 1981 through 1985 I attended Royal Roads Military College. This was a Canadian institution that was very much like West Point or Sandhurst. I never was cut out to be an officer, and half-way through my fourth year I was dismissed from the college and the Canadian Armed Forces because of my lack of organisational, management and leadership skills. Unfortunately, my academic marks were poor, so I could not get into another university. Even if I could have, any university will require that you spend your third and fourth year with it before it gives you a degree, even though I only had one semester to go.

Royal Roads closed eleven years ago, but the Royal Military College of Canada remains in Kingston, Ontario. Nowadays the rules are a bit different. If you are released for reasons other than misconduct, you can remain as a civilian student for a year and still are eligible for a degree.

Now, it happens that I have recently been attending the University of British Columbia and have a B+ average. I learned that the Dean of Sciences at RMC was a physics prof of mine. In March I wrote to him to ask if I could transfer my senior level UBC credits to RMC. This weekend the answer came back YES!

So, on Friday I will receive a degree that I had given up on 21 years ago. I will then be able to watch Canada's finest young men and women earning being granted the Queen's commission. And on Saturday night I will attend the graduation ball - in a rented Hunting Stewart kilt and Prince Charlie!

I sure am busy now. I live north of Seattle, and Kingston is near northern New York. The wife and I will be catching a red-eye on Thursday. There won't be much sleep this weekend, but it will be worth it.

Two years ago, I came to the realisation that you cannot change things that you regret, but that you can look at what you are doing today and make sure that you will not regret it later. That week, I quit my job and set out in earnest to become a high school teacher. Strangely, that decision led directly to the resolution of the greatest regret of my life. Twenty years ago I was glad that I had not been commissioned, but my failure to earn that degree hounded me for a long time. And now I am going to get that degree!