She overcame much to get that diploma

There she stood in her teal gown and mortarboard with her gold honors sash draped over her shoulders and her high school diploma in hand.
Sure, to a newspaper reader a high school graduation is no big deal. They happen every year. So another kid made it – so what. Thousands do every spring.
Well, the graduation last Friday of Heather Southern in the Hickory High School Class of 2011 in Chesapeake, Va., is a big deal to me and her mother. My firstborn child and only daughter went through a lot to reach that important milestone.
Her parents separated when she was 3 years old and divorced when she was 6. In her 12 years of schooling, she has attended seven schools in three states. In her early years, she bounced back and forth between two families and 11 different houses, not counting the three she lived in before the divorce. Both of her families have been through spells of extreme financial difficulty.
Stability has never been hers, yet there she was, an honor student beaming with a pride that outshone that of her parents and grandparents combined.
She did it!
I was happier and more excited for her than I was for my high school and college graduations.
Though Heather struggles with a lack of self-confidence and is unsure about her future as she heads into junior college this fall, she can go with the knowledge and confidence that she is a strong-willed survivor. She has remarkable skills at adapting to her environment.
Heather has her mother’s book smarts and my creativity. God has blessed her with incredible gifts and talents. She did better in school than either of her parents and did so amide the turbulence of her life. She is also a terrific artist and was awarded the Level 4 Art Student of the Year award from her school.
If you think I’m just another proud parent bragging about his kid, you’re right. What parent wouldn’t be proud of their child, especially considering all she accomplished under the circumstances?
Congratulations Heather, YOU did it!
On a side note, we sure packed a ton of sightseeing while I was in Virginia for Heather’s graduation. My parents drove out for the occasion and the four of us stayed very busy. In addition to all the graduation hoopla, we also toured Historic Williamsburg, visited my old haunts in North Carolina, including stops at the Wright Brother’s monument and the beach on the Outer Banks. We ended the trip with a quick tour of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Most of our time was spent in the Smithsonian Institution’s museums. We did visit the new World War II Memorial, which is absolutely incredible.
It was the first time Heather and my parents had visited the museums and we took in Air and Space, Nature and Science and American History. I’ve visited most of those before, but noted the exhibits had changed quite a bit. The original Wright Flyer had its own room and it was very cool seeing it the day after seeing where it made its historic first flights.
I was really disappointed with the American History Museum because a lot of it was being remodeled. The thing I most wanted to see was Clayton Moore’s Lone Ranger mask, but it was not on display.
Our last stop, however, more than made up for my disappointment. We went to the new Air and Space facility just outside of Washington in Virginia. There on display was the test space shuttle Enterprise. It was an awesome sight to behold. I got to see a Concord, the Enola Gay (the plane the dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan) and a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, amongst scores of other historic aircraft.
The biggest bonus came while we were viewing the Enterprise. The rest of the family moved on and I lingered to take a few more pictures. That’s when they began ushering everyone out of the room. As I left, NBC news anchor Brian Williams was escorting former astronaut and Senator John Glenn into the facility. I was among the throng of people ignoring Williams and reaching out to shake Glenn’s hand as he passed by.
Once clear of the crowd, Williams led Glenn over to where his Mercury Friendship 7 capsule was displayed. That was the craft Glenn flew in as he became the first American to orbit the earth.
All of that would never have happened for me if my dear, sweet daughter hadn’t risen above her upbringing to become the wonderful young woman and high school graduate that she is today.