Read original post of article here: https://sntimes.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/schools-out-for-summer-schools-out-forever/
To my first investors: Thank you for investing thousands upon thousands of dollars into a very emotionally unstable 5 year old. Wearing purple dresses with yellow tights was the outfit of choice for this future student. As I was a stubborn child, my normal hairstyle would consist of crooked pigtails because I wanted to do my own hair. Losing a tooth in kindergarten seemed to be the highlight of my year and yet you still funneled money into this kid that seemed to have eaten a little too much crazy glue.
Why you continued to fund my education while I sang songs about meatballs on spaghetti or celebrated opposite day (which I later found out was not a real holiday by trying to find it on the calendar and realizing my teacher was lying to me) is really beyond me. No one took a chance on me besides you guys. You continued to provide for me, even when I seemed like a lost cause because I didn’t know the difference between ‘collage’ and ‘college’ and yet you expected me to somehow succeed in the future.
In normal investment meetings, yelling “I hate you” and slamming the door would normally mean funding is getting pulled, but for you, you invested even more. Those were the times you would do what hurt you the most, punish me, even though you knew I needed it, I needed to learn the rules now and respect rules before the real world got a hold of me. You invested emotional support as you consoled me in times of child-anguish where my world imploded over 8 year old mean girls, as you treated my problem as if it were the most significant issue in the world today.
Even when I became a legal adult, you continued to support me. You pushed for my success and continued to support me even though, according to the government, I am no longer your responsibility. You still let me leech off of you in many ways; giving more than you should, you are the giving tree that gives until it has nothing left.
Thank you for letting me realize my dreams and not telling me that they were impossible but creating pathways to those stars in the sky. Telling me how strong I am even when I feel so broken inside, for building my wings when I am getting ready to jump, but am too scared to leap, and for creating the laughter that carries me through every day, thank you.
To my investors that met at St. Norbert College over thirty seven years ago, how crazy it has been that I have come to the place where you met. Where you began to work your butt off so you could have a chance in this crazy world since your parents didn’t invest in you as much as you are investing in me.
I am thankful for the years you toiled away in hopes that your future family would have more opportunities than you had and so our starting point would be farther ahead then yours was at my age. For the sacrifices I know you had to make and for the many I will never know you made in order to create the future you have placed before me, I will forever be indebted to you.
To my investors, my comedians, my emotional support system, my shoulder to cry on, my biggest supporters, my toughest critics, my drivers, my guardians, my level headed counselors, my cheerleaders, my best friends, my parents, I gave you so many reasons to give up on me but you never did. You have earned this diploma as much as I have, thank you for everything Mom and Dad, I love you.
