Knowledge is acquired through education or observation. The good judgment of wisdom is only obtained through experience. Older women have lots of experience. Those things that went extremely right and the ones that went terribly wrong stick in our memories. Sometimes a wrong decision turns into a good thing later.
When I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to be a hairstylist. Before I could take the state board exam and obtain a license, I had to have a thousand hours of instruction. I immediately began the six month course at the Rockford School of Beauty Culture in case winter roads caused me to miss some days.
It took only a month for me to admit Mom was right and I was wrong. I should have tried office work using the skills I’d learned in high school. I hated doing hair. I was ready to quit, but Mom said no–tuition had been paid.
The following January, I finished the training, passed the test and obtained my liense. I was immediately offered an office job. I enjoyed assisting farmers to take advantage of federal goverment programs.
A year later, my persistent cough was diagnosed as tuberculosis. I spent five months in the Rockford Municipal Sanitarium recovering from the disease. After the first ten weeks of treatment, including twice-a-week shots of streptomycin in the butt, I felt much better. The director agreed I was well enough to be the resident hair stylist for the other eight female patients. Suddenly, I was glad I was a registered cosmetologist and had mailed in the dollar annual fee to renew my license. Mom brought the permanent kit I’d purchased while I was a student and picked up the needed supplies at the beauty school. A haircut or a permanent made my clients feel better and it gave me something productive to do.
What experiences have you had that seemed useless at the time, but proved to be beneficial later?