Eight Years and Three Kids Later…..

Last night I graduated from Columbia Basin College. I received my AA degree and received high honors. It was a sweet feeling.

One of my best friends, Nikole, died when I was a senior in High School. I don’t talk about it much even today, but I didn’t handle it very well at the time. I stopped going to high school, so even though I was an ‘A’ student the district forced me to withdraw from school. I didn’t get to walk with my class or attend my prom. I graduated high school shortly after that, but it wasn’t the same. I had a tough couple of years. Then one day I finally understood…..my Father in Heaven and I ended up back on the same page. Peace returned and I got my life back. I left to serve a full-time mission for a year and a half. I started my degree shortly after I got home.

And eight years and three kids later and here I finally am. I was married and had three kids in the middle of this journey. Every time I became pregnant I had to take at least a year off…..pregnancy and I don’t get along very well. I’d spend the majority of my pregnancies flat on my back (or with my head in a toilet) or in the hospital. When the worst would pass, I’d start up again. There are typically two reactions to this. One is that I should’ve waited to start a family until I finished my degree. The second leans more towards the why even bother with your degree if you’re “just a stay-at-home Mom?”

So, I’m here to explain that I would do this all again the exact same way. I chose to be a Mother because I firmly believe there isn’t a more important job to be done on this Earth. And I know I’m right. I chose to inconvenience myself and battle through this degree while doing that most important of jobs because I also firmly believe that education is critically important. I want my children to know that. If I fail at everything else, my kids will grow up to know that their Mother literally gave up her blood, sweat, and tears for them and she didn’t do it because she didn’t have other options, but because it was the best option. My children will know that their Mother is smart and educated and that she chose them anyway.

I’m not posting this to brag, but because I actually am proud of myself. There were a lot of nights that I’d get my kids to bed and then sit down on the couch to do homework and feel like I’d rather be doing anything else. There was a business law final that I sat through in a separate room so that if I had to leave to throw up I could do that without disrupting everyone else in the testing room. There were emails sent to teachers from hospital rooms and tests taken at nearby libraries. There were tests taken in my vehicle in front of the library (because we live in the middle of nowhere and only have dial-up, which doesn’t always work) that had to get done. Sometimes I took them with my kids in the backseat pelting me with toys and yelling in my ear. There were a million days I could’ve quit. But I didn’t. And I did it for my children and for myself. So yesterday was a good day for me.

I just want to express my gratitude to a husband whose life wasn’t always exciting while his wife sat there doing homework instead of doing something more fun. I’m grateful to my forgiving children who occasionally suffered for the lack of attention from an overwhelmed Mother. I’m grateful to my dear, sweet friends and family who would watch my kids while I’d take tests or go to school for other things. And lastly, but not least importantly, I’m grateful to two wonderful parents who taught me to have strength and never give up. I’m grateful to everyone who made this journey possible for me and I just want to express my thanks. So, thank you. I love you all.

It’s the end of a good day in the Huwe house…..