Reflections on my daughter...

Wow, the last twenty two years have flown by, like a challenger on nitro!  Although this is a more personal post it really is about reflecting back on time.  Revisiting the past and traveling the road that led to today, this is an exhilarating moment for both me and my daughter.  Tomorrow my daughter will graduate from the University of Bridgeport with a Masters of Science in Education.  She is ready to be finished with school for now and I’m excited to share her achievements.  

Seems like just mere weeks ago she was a toddler, running around outside playing with rocks – yes, they were her favorite toys – rocks of all kinds.  A t-ball player and little dancer in Kindergarten, a student of Tae Kwon Do for six years when she decided to trade her TKD kicks in for the four legged kind and took up western riding.  She fell in love with horses and we even leased one for her one summer – ah, Cookie was a sweetie.  Nothing could shake her love of horses not even when she was thrown by a horse that got spooked by a chicken!  She dislocated her hip and still wanted to go to the stables – she nagged her Dr. about that till he finally gave in after she was off her crutches.  

In high school she traveled abroad to Australia and New Zealand and had the time of her life – climbed the Sydney Bridge, and came home with a didgeridoo and a boomerang too!  Onto UCONN she went where her dogged determination paid off – graduated with a BA in English in three and a half years and even managed a Study Abroad program in Florence, Italy where she lost her heart to the country and people.  Upon her graduation from UCONN she enrolled at UB in the education internship program working full time at the very middle school she attended and going to school full time.  It was incredibly thrilling to read her internship review from the principle of the school – all superior grades and an added comment, “Jennifer is one of the best interns NEMS has ever had.”  How’s that for being told you are doing a great job!  

Well today is ending and tomorrow will be here all too soon and another mile stone in my daughter’s world will be celebrated.  It is amazing to look back on the last twenty two years and see all she has done and accomplished.  She wants to buy a house within the next two or three years and wants to own enough land where she can have her horses, dogs, cats and any other cute cuddly animal she falls in love with.  Unbelievable focus has made her a success thus far and if she proceeds on the course she has plotted for herself I believe she will achieve every dream she can possibly dream.  

As a mom I think she’s gone from being my baby to a strong young woman in what seems to be a few short weeks.  We are very close and I’m grateful that we share a love of many of the same things; reading, writing, Fast and Furious movies *grin* and many others.  I always thank the people who tell my husband and me that we did a great job with Jen but quite frankly, Jennifer did a great job with Jen.  She made good choices when she wasn’t with us, made decisions to launch her into a successful future and mindfully paved her own pathway to what promises to be a successful and satisfying career and life.  

I am truly inspired by my daughter’s ambition, compassion and desire to nurture her own future and that of our young people.  So, kudos to my daughter and her successes in life may tomorrow be yet another stepping stone in her journey to a life full of meaning.  Love you little frijol.  Ciao bella! 

xx