Cheers to Mom!

...everybody dies, but not everyone lives...

Driving to campus today, I heard those lyrics play across the radio waves. Nicely crafted, layered meaning, an element of questioning. Who doesn't live and why? I'm living, right...hopefully? Totally singable and obviously memorable.

The phrase seems apt a week after most of us made New Year's resolutions or declarations or half-hearted gestures towards better health and wiser spending.

And then I thought of my mom, who at....well, I can't politely mention age here....well past the traditional college age decided to finish up what she started long before me or my sister Erin were even a consideration. In May 2010 my mom will walk...even though she'll be dancing in her mind...across the graduation stage at the University of South Carolina with her college diploma victoriously conquered!

And I've never respected anyone more for finishing a long neglected project. While attending college the first time, Mom met Dad. Mom and Dad married. Two years later Erin interrupted their marriage. And three years later...almost to the day...I interrupted Erin's only-child posh lifestyle. Then seminary and kids and full time jobs and a couple of moves all dislodged Mom's capability to finish her bachelor's degree.

Then a couple of family crises (we were good at those) thwarted Mom's second attempt to finish college. But something magic must have happened Summer of 2009 because Mom enrolled at the University of South Carolina (her third -- and final -- college coupe) to complete the THREE courses she needed to earn her History degree.

Mom's simple act of completing her college education tells me that she's living. And it's her determination and persistence that inspire me to live like I'm living and not just dying.

So here's to you, Mom, on a job well -- if long in coming -- done! I'll be there clapping the loudest and smiling the biggest.