Awesome Experience

What an Awesome experience for dear hubby and I, as parents. My jaw actually aches from all the grinning I did last night. Professors and students shook my hand and told me amazing things about my daughter Sarah. Wow! Hubby and I are floating on air. We feel so honored to be her parents.

One thing we found out is that since the University of Idaho opened in the late 1800's only 32 students have graduated with straight A's. There's a plaque in the Student Union building with their names engraved on it. Sarah Lynn Park's name will be the 33rd. She will be getting some kind of award for that accomplishment-date and time to be announced later. I'll be there, come hell or high water.

When parents bring that brand new baby home for the first time, there are so many fears that cross your mind. I had a lot of them.

I grew up in an abusive home with a control-freak mom, an alcoholic father, and both were members of a seriously bad religious cult. That's in addition to being very poor. My worries were "What if I abuse my children like my Mom did me?" "What if I'm a lousy Mom?" "I'm so screwed up myself. What if I totally screw up this tiny innocent human being?" "Can I do this???" As a parent, it takes 20 years before you find out if you're doing it right or not. That's a lot of time to screw things up.

As we drove home from Moscow last night I thought about all this. I thought about all the things we went through when Sarah was growing up. The good times and the bad. The fun and the sad. There was a lot more good and fun than bad and sad. Sarah truly was/is an amazing child.

I worked hard to overcome the abuse of my childhood so I wouldn't pass it on. It was, and still is, the biggest challenge of my life. Nothing matters more to me than to have my daughters be well balanced, mentally healthy, loving, kind, law abiding, contributing members of society.

My husband has the same goals. He is the best father you could possibly imagine for our daughters. It's one of the things I admire and love most about him.

But I have to say, even though hubby and I worked hard, the real credit goes to Sarah for what she has accomplished. She went above and beyond what we, her parents, ever expected of her, and for that we are truly grateful to her, and proud to be called "Sarah's parents."

Congratulations sweetie. You did it! You deserve it. I love you more than I could possibly put into words. My sunshine girl.

With much love and admiration,
Mom