Sunday we had our Tennessee families here for Christmas Brunch. I wrote about the brunch in a previous blog so I will not detail more of it here.
We had our usual great family time but our daughter and her family were not able to come from Dayton, Ohio. She had given us several good reasons why they could not attend, but she called us Friday evening and told us to be sure to watch University of Dayton’s Winter Graduation ceremony streaming live Saturday morning. Then she told us she would be getting her Masters in Theology at the ceremony! Since she already has a MBA and a PhD in finance she didn’t want to burden us by inviting us to make the five hour trip for a short ceremony. Especially during such a busy time of the year! We can celebrate later!
We watched the ceremony and beamed with pride at her newest accomplishment. What a woman she has become! She taught in the UD Business school for a while but was not comfortable with the “business environment”. She became the Director of the Program for Christian Leadership at UD and was instrumental in the religious formation of many UD students. She completer her course-work last spring and her Masters Thesis was accepted this summer. She began teaching a course, which she designed, in Business Ethics this fall. We are so proud of her! We did not know she was going to “graduate” or we would have scheduled the Family Christmas get-to-gether at a different time. We wish we could have attended the graduation. On the other hand, not having to drive ten hours was a gift in its own way.
Her new degree is a Christmas gift to all of us; our family, the University of Dayton, and every corner of the world she touches. Although she has not told me so, I suspect she will go on to get a PhD in theology too. What else will she have to do beside teach, be a mom and a wife? She might as well study too. Learning is exciting, fun, and challenging.
Who says the US Work Ethic is dead? I have a couple more stories to tell about work ethic, but I’ll save them until after Christmas. In the meantime enjoy your family this great season. We will!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!