I have been blessed to accomplish some wonderful things in my life in which the latest is taking an idea, shaping it into a story and writing my first draft of that story.   However, the accomplishment I am “most” proud of is graduating from college.  I am proud of this feat because it was a dream I almost had to give up.

I had always planned to attend college at UCLA and made sure that I met all of the college entrance requirements.  However, in the summer between my junior and senior year in high school, I made a mistake.   All it took was being “home alone”, a bottle of ill-gotten wine, and the Isley Brothers’ “Hello, It’s Me” on the record player.  I became pregnant at the age of sixteen.   I did not marry and became a single teenage mother three months before high-school graduation….. but I did make it to the prom and marched down the aisle to get my diploma.

So, now I had made a life-altering decision.  All I wanted was to be a good mother and to go on to college.   I turned eighteen 3 months after high school graduation and 1 month later I had a full-time office clerical job.   The fall semester after my son turned two years old (and was potty trained), I started college at UH.   With the help of my parents and my extended family, I parented my son, worked 40 hrs/week, and attended college.    I took a minimum of 12 hours a semester, attended every summer session, and gave up all social activities.  It took me 5 years instead of 4 but I made it through to graduation and acquired the one thing that can never be taken away from me……….an education.

Sometimes I look back on that experience and I am amazed at how I did it.  It was so HARD but I was SO focused.   I think if I had stopped and just thought about the magnitude of what I was doing I probably would have labeled it as “impossible” and gave up.  But I did not stop and I did not give up.

And, this is why it is the accomplishment that I am most proud of.