Finally, the Post About Graduation

There was never any doubt that we’d get here but it feels like it happened in the blink of an eye.

I so clearly remember riding in a car driven by Tom down a side street in Huntington, Indiana. I was about halfway through my pregnancy with Alyssa. I was just starting to show and you could finally see her moving.

I’d had a miscarriage before I got pregnant with Alyssa. As we drove down that street, my breath hitched when I realized that it could still happen again. Tom gave me an odd look and asked what was wrong. I asked him, “What if I lose this baby too?”

He tried to console me by saying if that happened, we’d try again.

I shook my head, “But I want this baby. I don’t want any other baby, just this one.”

That baby graduated from high school last week. The baby I cried for and wanted so desperately before she was even born is eighteen years old and heading off to college in the fall.

There were some REALLY long days interspersed through these past eighteen years but those years? They flew.

I am so proud of who she is. I’m so proud of how hard she works and how much she cares and how kind she is. She’s so smart and confident and funny. I am so lucky to be a part of her life, so have brought her into this world and to be able to watch her do amazing things.

She was the baby I wanted even though I didn’t even know her as I cried over the thought of losing her. She is magical and mystical and she surprises me all the time as she continues to find herself. I hope the confidence she’s cultivated through her high school years continues and grows during her years in college. I hope she makes more amazing friends and continues to hone her strengths and talents.

But most of all, I hope she’s happy. I hope she finds her people and her way and does the things that make her the happiest.

Fly high, sweet girl. Be the best you you can be.