To Ellie, Upon Graduation from The University of Rhode Island -May 22, 2016

In one week, we will be in Rhode Island, celebrating Ellie's graduation. I can't believe how fast time has flown. Was it 4 years ago, that we dropped her off? I visited her this past week and had a truly wonderful time. I had a little trouble with my eyesight when I left.....not that I'd admit to being a little teary-eyed when I tooted the horn past the fence hole!

I worried weekly, I became an expert at that, about my little girl; the bobble-headed bunch of blonde curls, little girl. I was convinced she would get on the wrong train home, and end up in Scranton, or Des Moines or, gak……El Paso….I agonized that she would wither away, alone in a dorm room, with gerbils as friends.  Really, if anyone can worry, it is me who takes the trophy.  How would she manage the dining hall; she was too shy to venture out…I had to learn to worry in silence.

But then, just recently as a matter of fact, I spent some days with the object of my angst and realized there was never, ever a moment, a nano-second I had cause for concern!  I remembered the girl with the easy swagger, who at 4 years old, strapped on roller-skates, picked up a basketball and took off like a demon, dribbling and skating down the street.  And a year later, took the training wheels off her brother’s bike, and rode a distance, not thinking we were watching, to prove she was big enough to get a dog. She took on social challenges all throughout her early school years, with her chin up and her shoulders squared; this girl proved she feared nothing.  I spent 4 years worrying about nothing.

Here it is, on the brink of graduation, and I finally stopped worrying, I learned from the best, there is nothing of which to be concerned. Without a doubt, I am confident that Ellie will face her future with the same quiet determination, the same resolve and character strength that she has shown everyone, especially her worry-wort of a mother, her whole life.

With a lump in my throat, pride in my heart and not one speck of worry, I congratulate my daughter, Ellie on her graduation from the University of Rhode Island and can’t wait to watch her spread her wings and soar.