A fullfilled journey

It has definitely been a journey. Our 18 year old daughter finally finished high school. I never doubted God but I sure as heck doubted our daughter. We have pushed and pushed harder so that our daughter could graduate with her class. There were times when all she wanted to do was watch television and text and hubby and I had to stay on her and to keep telling her that she has got to finish high school. Whenever she would come in from school, we would ask how school was that day and her reply was, "SCHOOL SUCKS! IT IS BORING!" Hubby and I would see this child of ours go in her room and the first thing she wanted to do was to turn on the television and catch a good movie. We would say, "Don't you have any homework today?" The answer was majority always no. We stayed on her though. We said to turn off the television and the radio and to put the phone down. We told her that she couldn't go places with her friends and that after church on Sundays, she was to stay in the books. She was trying to be the wind that blew us away but we stood our ground and we did not back down. We were not giving up on her, we saw potential.

I used the soup commercial when it says, "why settle when you can select". I told her why settle for a C when you can select a B. Even though we were not the parents who tells our children that they have to make all A's and B's because not every person is an A and B student, but each child does have that will and that drive within themselves if they see that someone else cares about their grades as well. Even when our daughter came home with a grade lower than what she thought she did, I kept throwing graduation date in her face and telling her that she has to make the mark and finish on time. She kept wanting to throw in the towel and she even said that she didn't think she could do it. Hubby and I told our daughter that we believe in her and that she could do it.

As the months started turning into weeks, our daughter finally got excited. And then the day finally came, she graduated high school on June 7, 2011. Amen thank ya Jesus.  There were a few of her classmates that didn't get to walk in the commencement exercises nor did they graduate, a few of them were her friends. I was sad for those youngsters but as a parent, we must encourage our children to strive to do their best and we have to believe in them as well. This has certainly been a journey and now that it has been fullfilled, it's now time to start my next journey as our daughter prepares for college in August. I guess it never ends.