It's been so long since I wrote anything that I could easily make this a multi-subject entry. However, the major events of life deserve to stand by themselves. Last month my baby Denise graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Visual Communications. She put together a beautiful portfolio in her 5 years as a Blue Hen, but what impresses me the most about my beautiful daughter, (besides her blazing hair) is the friendships that she made and the level of independence she has achieved since she first left Edison. She is an amazing young woman, but as Churchill said of Russia, "she is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma", so too is Dee.
This is the little girl who could lie better than a professional poker player, but who promised her mother at age 10 that she would never lie to her again and to the best of my knowledge, she has kept that promise.
The girl who never cried when she was taken to a baby sitter or day care. The little girl who thought nothing of walking away from the group at Great Adventure, Sesame Place and Disney World, driving me and her mother out of our minds for the 15-20 minutes that she was wandering on her own, which felt like hours to us.
Going back even further, she didn't talk until she was almost three, we took her to an audiologist at age two and while she was playing with blocks on the floor, the woman banged a pot behind her and she didn't react. But there was nothing wrong with her hearing, it was her ability to tune out other things when she was concentrating showing up for the first time. When she did start talking, she talked in full sentences.
When we moved to Tennessee, her sister hated the move and made it very clear that we were ruining her life(Veronica still hasn't forgiven us, but the return to Edison got us a partial pardon), Denise wasn't too happy either, but for the most part kept it to herself and adapted quickly and started collecting friends.
We came back to Edison and she picked up where she left off with her old friends and soon the circle widened. High School wasn't her favorite time because in many ways she was looking toward the future. College was her first opportunity to leave the nest and she made the most of it. She studied in Spain, where she met her newest best friend, she went to England with her class and came back with another best friend. While in England she spent weekends in Amsterdam and visited Spain again. Before her 23rd birthday she had more air miles then most people ever get.
Now, she has college in her rear-view mirror. An honor student, a leader among her classmates, with a sister who loves her despite all of their bickering and parents who are prouder than anything to call her their daughter.
Things are tough right now, jobs are not easy to come by, she is in a hurry to start the next stage, and hopes that doesn't include too much more time under her parent's roof. She will find what she's looking for and she will leave the nest. Her mother and I will miss her and hope that she always remembers that she CAN come home again, but we will also admire the thing inside her that drives her to dare, and when she becomes a famous artist, designer or whatever, we won't be any prouder of her than we are today.
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