To my wonderful nurse daughter

This is from a mom about a daughter who managed to lift herself out of a deep hole and be very successful. I remember the many Sundays when she sat on my sofa alone, having been a stay-at-home mom for quite a few years with no base of friends or colleagues, and going through a terrible divorce, facing child custody issues, having no home, and, last but not least, having no career path or skills!
Although she was ten years out of high school, she took a few college courses, and she applied to the NH Community Technical College where she was accepted. Her first math quiz score was a dismal 53. She panicked and felt sure she couldn’t make it through! But she persevered, worked hard and made it to her second year with graduation in sight.

The program consisted of three programs, all with different tests and scores that needed to total to a certain minimum in order to graduate. The night of her test results, she was very nervous and knew it was going to be close. Now, please understand this is a mother of two children who has worked a job and attended classes, besides attending to the kids (no help from dad). When she checked her score, she learned that she had missed it by three points, and dissolved into tears and heartbreak that just wrenched my heart.

At the time, I thought she needed to just take a class over again and could do it during the summer. What I didn’t understand was that she would be required to take the whole year again delaying graduation and her career, and a better life for herself and the kids. We cried for two days and then she pushed on.

A year later, she graduated, and I had a mother’s pride that just couldn’t have been stronger. She now has a great job at our local hospital and is a wonderful nurse who gets lots of recognition for her work. She bought her own house a year ago, and with the children, they’re making it a home. In the eyes of her kids and her mom…wow.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share the story of my wonderful daughter.