IN a nut shell, I know the doubt about going back to school anf how to make it work, I did have some past experiene in college but one day 7 years ago I deceided I wanted to be more than just a babysitter so I took the leap and applied to a university and got in, big surprized because I to doubted my ability, took me a while because I am a single parent and had to work along side of school, but I did it. now I am unemplpoyed due to my symptoms and like you have gotten joy seeing my to oldests achieve their goes one even made it to med school. Now that I have my bachelors and the econmoy sucks my degree is worth nothing so I find myself again at that place where I need to go back and acquire a masters, boy that scares me. at 51 do I even have what it takes to compete with these younger kids. I doubt myself alot, but I still have one kid home and I need to support her and teach her the importance of education so I am going to have to just bit the bullet and apply, will crumble if I don't make it but at last I gave it a try. My suggestion to you is make your children proud and take that first step and see what the jr colleges can offer and then you can figure out what you want to do later. remember it's your life and you got a long one left. try just taking one class in the begining while you figure out how to balance it with a job that is not retail, look for something that represents you.