Promises Kept

I don't remember ever speaking the promise.  But that's the way we were; some things were just understood.  Or maybe it was just that some things were too painful to say out loud.  Whether or not the words were ever said, I know I made a promise to my dying husband that I would give each of our three children a college education, and that it would be his gift to them.

So now, ten years ( and 24 college semester tuitions) later, I can say that I kept my promise.  My son will graduate from the University of Vermont on Sunday, effectively ending my kids' dependence on me, at least in matters financial.

The "benefit" of dying from cancer (as opposed to being hit by a Mack truck) is that there is time to "plan."  So we were able to continue a life insurance policy, and I was able to deposit it into 529 accounts for each of our kids.  If not for the economic downturn in 2008, that investment would have covered completely those 24 semesters of cost.  But some frugal living on my part covered what the 529s could not.  Mission accomplished.

If we'd had a choice, my kids would rather have had their dad here and been in student debt up to their eyeballs.  But there were no choices.

Or there was one.  A college education was what Pete could give to them, and it was up to me to see that it happened.

So today, on the eve of my third child's graduation weekend, I am in love with the promise I kept.  I am in love with the gift of knowledge that my children received from their father . . . in the lessons he taught them, in the example he set, and in the education he provided for them.  But most of all, I am in love with the pride that I know he holds for them and in the love that they continue to have for him, evident in their successes as students and compassionate human beings.

Thanks, Pete.