Once, my son and I took a day trip to visit a small tutoring school in Exeter that holds sponsorships for foreign high school students. We were seeking a way for him to finish his last year of high school in the UK, as my husband’s work permit was ending soon.
After our intensive research, we found out that only a few schools across the entire country offer A-level classes that match the exam boards he was taking (it’s a crucial factor in the British school system). This school was one of them.
I was also looking for a way for myself to stay in the UK to support him. The lawyer told me to get a student visa, which had to be through a higher degree of education than I already had. This meant that I had to go obtain a postgraduate degree.
It sounded like an absolute joke to me and a total waste of money. The only major I could apply to was computer science because I was a software engineer with a math degree, but I had quit my previous job more than 15 years prior.
At the tutoring school, we met a headteacher who was in her 60s. She shared her story about how she started teaching a few years back. She, too, had a math degree. I was shocked to realize that I had retired from my life already. I didn’t see any new opportunities in my future even though I was still in my 40s. That hit me hard.
My son ended up not going to that school for a different reason, but visiting the school changed my life. If I had not met her, I would not have applied for a master’s program.
Visiting the university administration office was intimidating at first. Taking the English language test as an international student was humiliating. The only people I could ask for the reference letters were my college professor over 20 years ago and my boss, who totally forgot what I did back then…. But I got in.
I eventually wrote a thank you letter to her, but I don’t think she would truly recognize how much of an impact she made on my life.
I want to remind ourselves that we all are making an impact on others’ life everywhere we show up.
There is no way you can be ineffectual.
And it’s fascinating to notice how the universe supports us with looks like a random coincidence. There really is no such thing as a coincidence.
