To Dad, Thanks

             Ten years ago my dad was in a trimming a tree limb when he fell and hit his head causing a massive brain bleed, seven days later we as a family were forced to make a decision that would change our lives forever.  We knew dad wouldn’t want to live as a vegetable, so we removed him from life support. Dad had told mom one month earlier when they were leaving the cemetery from my maternal grandpa's funeral that he did not want to live as a vegetable if something happened to him, and he told her where he wanted to be buried.  He wanted to be buried at the cemetery where his grandparents were buried, who knows but god works in mysteries ways. Dad was able to help people even in death by his donation of his corneas, and his skin for burned victims.  

                Seven years later I felt I needed an education I was scared, what if something happened to my husband, what would happen to me?  I had been asking myself this for the last few years I had no education.  So this is where my college education begins.  I talked to my husband and he supported me whole heartedly, as long as I went to school online.  I was fine with that because I knew I wouldn’t really have time to drive someplace to go to school.  My youngest son was still in high school, I worked and we had sporting events to go too.

                Online schools weren’t as prevalent when I started looking as they are now, so I started my search.  Franklin University just happened to be the second school that I looked at.  They were in Columbus and had been around since 1902, and they were known for their MBA degrees.  They were it!

                When I went to make out my schedule at Franklin University I walked into this room made of all glass and there was Grant Hospital.  This is it, this is where dad’s life had ended, this was the catalyst that started my whole journey.  I knew dad was watching over me and he would have wanted this for me.  I felt a sense of peace.

                So here I am three years later, having gone only part time to school because I was realistic enough to know that I couldn’t go full time, and about to graduate tomorrow.  There have been lots of times that I have thought I’m told old for this, but I had to set a good example for my kids.  You know how they say “mothers are the hardest on themselves” yeah that was me.  I could sit and study and a bomb could go off around me and I would have never known it.  I can’t thank my husband enough for supporting me, and the rest of my family when I didn’t have enough faith in myself they always told me I could do it.

                To this day I have kept a saying taped in my folder that Franklin University gave me on the day I made out my schedule, it is from a fortune cookie it says “The road to knowledge begins with the turn of every page”.  Thanks dad for road that started this journey, although I would give anything to have you here with me, I will be turning a new page tomorrow by receiving Associate Degree in Accounting.  I love you and miss you.