The University

I dropped out of college in my sophomore year. Not because I wasn't smart enough — I was. But because my father got sick, and someone needed to work, and I was the oldest.\n\nI took a job at a warehouse, packing boxes for eight dollars an hour. I worked nights so I could visit my father during the day.\n\nHe died six months later.\n\nI stayed at the warehouse. I didn't know what else to do. The months turned into years. I got promoted to supervisor, then manager. I made decent money. But I always wondered: what if?\n\nAt thirty-five, I enrolled in community college. Nights and weekends. It took me six years, but I graduated with a degree in business.\n\nI went to my graduation alone. No parents to cheer for me. No one to take photos. But my wife was there, and my children.\n\n"Congratulations, honey," my wife said. "I'm so proud of you."\n\nI cried. "My father would have been proud."\n\n"He knows. He's watching."\n\nI'm forty-five now. I own a small business. It's not Google. But it's mine.\n\nIt's never too late. That's what I learned. Life doesn't have a deadline. You can go back to school at any age. You can change careers at any age. You can start over at any age.\n\nDon't let anyone tell you it's too late. It's only too late when you're dead. And you're still breathing.