A little bit of Illinois...

I am in Illinois for Stesha's graduation. She is getting her Masters Degree in Public Administration. It is pretty amazing for so many reasons. Stesha's journey has not been an easy one. She was a exceptional young woman, a student who read voraciously, was an incredible student, fun loving...Javad's birth, although an incredible gift to our family, was a rough one. all of our energy was focused on Javad and his health...we thought she was handling all things fine, but in actuality, she was struggling...

High School was a wash...my brilliant, year ahead of her peers, daughter, slowly made herself flunk out of school. It was craziness...at the end when we finally took her out of school, she had failed almost everything, except Chemistry and Pre-Calculus (my bright girl, after all!) We enrolled her in the local Community College and began the journey that will come to fruition tomorrow.

She is hoping to get a job in Club Sports, a love that began with a part-time secretary job at PSU. Her love of this career began at minimum wage. She was in love from the beginning...it's all she talked about. The plan to go to the NIRSA National Convention set the plan in motion. First it was the decision to apply for a Graduate Assistant position, then we looked through all the potential schools, finally settling on eight of them.

She applied and was offered a job...in Illinois. Two years has passed and here we are...graduation in tomorrow. We have walked a long path to get here, but I could not be more proud. She is an incredible woman, one that I am proud to know,  proud to call my daughter. Tomorrow I will stand, my heart beating with pride, tomorrow is a day I was not sure would come. Her future is bright and I know that she will be launched into the most incredible life and to know that all of this is because of a little bit of Illinois.