Congratulations, Evey!

Evey decided she wanted the degree of Masters in Applied Nutrition before she even got her B. S. in Athletic Training. By the time she was ready for the undergrad degree, she had already applied to Northeastern University in Boston for the Masters degree. She didn't know at the time that she would be moving to Santa Clara, CA. Fortunately for her, Northeastern offered this degree completely ONLINE. Unbelievable. So she went for it.

She worked very hard. As she worked on the degree, she was also involved in planning her wedding and honeymoon, setting up their new apartment, and working in a Physical Therapy clinic. Despite all of that, she completed the program in just five straight semesters, taking only a year and a half. She is finished!! The school only has a commencement service once a year in May, but she has no plans to go to it. The diploma will be mailed to her after that date, but meanwhile she is DONE. She does officially have a Masters Degree now!

Congratulations, Evey! Your dad and I are very, very proud of you.

Now for equal time, let me say that I'm also very proud of Lowell. He has been in the Masters of Fine Arts program at the University of Baltimore for two and a half years. He is getting a Masters in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts. He has only three more semesters to finish. He is also working full time, so his degree is going like mine did, two classes at a time. In fact, most semesters, I only took one class at a time and took five years to do it. He is on track to finish in just four years by taking two classes every semester as well as full time work. Exhausting! He should be graduating in May of 2013.

I hope he chooses to go to his actual commencement ceremony. His dad and I will definitely go up to Baltimore for that! Lowell, like me, chose not to go to the undergrad graduation from the U. of Maryland. It was just too many people and felt sort of meaningless. When I got my masters twenty years later from Loyola College in Baltimore, I felt strongly that it was the right time to walk across the stage. Cindy and Mark attended, and I was quite happy about that. I would love to see Lowell go to a college graduation. Evey, on the other hand, did go to her undergrad commencement at Northeastern, so she does not feel that it is necessary to fly across the country to do it a second time. I totally agree with her.

Both of my kids are AWESOME, and I love them very much. I have included a picture of each of them here today since the blog is mostly about them.

Today we are planning another low-key day at the pool, assuming the weather gets warm enough this afternoon. We had quite a cold night last night; in fact, they said it was the coldest night of the season so far. It should get to 75 today and be sunny, so I hope that makes the pool a go. I also plan to go buy a box of Christmas cards and try to get them in the mail today. I'm way behind on that little chore.