The Need for Universal Questions or Themes in Memoir

Darlings everywhere!  Where's the meat?

The necessity to attend college brings to mind the universal questions through which to filter my story.  To build suspense, I need to show the search for the answers to these questions through my writing, my internal dialogue, in order to offer the reader insight into any journey he or she may be planning. 

Possible Themes: 

Making the right decision.  The idea of seemingly selfish ambitions of a mother at odds with the demands of motherhood. 

Taking the risk.  The tension between being a responsible wife and mother to 5 children and a college student. 

A sense of belonging.  Feelings of being an outsider at college.  It's not just the younger students who suffer from this.  Older students can feel they are starting behind the traditional college students because of a lack of college preparation. 

As my darlings lay, kicking and screaming on the library floor, I contemplate these questions and possibly redrafting my entire memoir.  No one ever said writing was easy.  And if they did, throw them on the floor with my kicking darlings.

Any insight you can offer, please do.  Thanks for reading.