Gut Punched

Today I had the pleasure of meeting with my academic adviser.  It was a great visit, she was a lovely gal and quite helpful.  I left her office feeling as though I had been punched in the gut.  Maybe even sucker punched in the gut.  I had this plan that I would graduate the same time as Natty and from the looks of it all that would seem quite possible to do.  Not the case.  Not the case at all.  We went through some options for classes and I am looking at roughly 4 more years of school to get done.  The special ed adds an entire year of classes and then everything else I need to do will take a good 2.5 years plus then student teaching bringing us to 4.  That takes a bit of wind out of my sails.  I almost wonder how anyone can earn a degree in 4 years.  This is my third semester back and I am still looking at 4 more years.  I came in with 40 credits being accepted and I am still looking at 4 more years.  I am technically a Junior and I am still looking at four more years.  Here is my gut, swing away!  I am thinking about dropping the special ed for now, getting through school, getting a job and then working on the special ed at that point.  It is so much more time than I thought.  If I go this other route I can shave at least a year and maybe another half year.  That will require a lot of credits hours every semester and I don't know what I can ultimately handle or the kids can handle.  I might just have to shoot for 3 years.  That puts me a year further out than I wanted to be but It should be manageable.  Lots to think about.  I have to catch my breath still, the wind was truly knocked out of me.  Ultimately it was really good to see the adviser because now I have at least an idea of what to expect.  Dang it!