A Proud Dad!

I know I’m just sounding like a proud father but that’s exactly what I am. Two wonderful things are happening with my girls, Dani is finishing her first year at college and Barbara has decided to come home to be with me and Dani.

First, let me start with Dani. Dani has fought a few hurdles over he last 19 years of her life. There were points where she (and Mary & I) were so frustrated over school work that I thought it would be a struggle for her to just graduate high school. Dani has always been someone who doesn’t give up If she was having as problem learning or understanding something in school she would work as hard as she could to find other ways to understand it. By the time she was in the eighth grade things started to click and by the end of her senior year she graduated high school with an advanced diploma. There are many young people who do that but what impresses me so much about Dani is the obstacles she had to overcome to get to that place.

So, let me get back to finishing her first year at college. Dani is attending Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Shenandoah still has the conservatory but it is now part of the university. Her mother, Mary, went to the conservatory for a while and her Aunt Linda graduated from there. Dani is majoring in elementary education and minoring in dance. Dani’s roommate, Rebekah, is a great young woman who is majoring in nursing and she and Dani get along fantastically. Rebekah is from Ohio, about 9 hours away from school, so she has come home with Dani and stayed with us a few times. It’s been a pleasure having her with us.

It makes Mary and I so proud to see Dani thriving in a university setting. She’s doing well in school and her grades are something for her to be proud of.

Mary (my ex-wife) and her husband decided to move to Florida last year and with that move came some tough decisions. Dani has always lived with me at our home and Barbara has been with both of us and most recently going to school where Mary lives and being with me on the weekends, holidays, summer and any other times that she didn’t have school. Barbara decided that she would try going to school in Florida. Mary picked out a great private school (I’ve been there and it’s a very nice Christian school). Barbara has come back for all of the holidays and about a weekend a month.

After the Christmas break, she gave me a call and said that she had made a decision, she was coming back home. We had a long serious talk about it and then Mary and I had a good conversation and it was decided that she would be back here. Of course, she’ll be down to see Mary on holidays, and anytime she wants to see her. Who knows if this will be a permanent decision for her but for right now this is what she wants. Mary and I will revisit it at the appropriate times. It was extremely tough to see her go to Florida and I know it will be just as tough for Mary to see her come back to Virginia.

Maybe this post has gotten a little too personal but as you can see, I am a pretty happy dad. Now, can anyone help out with tuitions?