Heros

I had a visit with my BF from college last night and we got to talking about our parents. She was saying that my parents were the only ones she knew among her friends to go to college. Her father had gone to college, but none of her friends in school had come from that background and only when we met in college did she meet anyone else whose parents had entered the hallowed halls.
She was very proud of her dad for going on the GI bill and getting an education. And rightfully so.
I, on the other hand, came from a long line of academics. My grandfather was superintendent of schools and several great aunts or uncles had been to college, as well as all my mother's sisters. My parents met in college, but married when mom was a sophomore and she quit school and began the process of raising babies and keeping house. I don't think this is what she really had planned. But she did it magnificently. Then in 1968 her mother-in-law made it possible for her to return to college and finish her degree. It took her 4 years, but she graduated with her Bachelors degree the same day I graduated from high school. Long day.
My BF comments got me to thinking. I have never told her how proud I am of her. It can't have been easy to return to college at 33 - this was not the time of the 'non-traditional' student. She worked hard and our dinner conversations included philosophy and Beowulf. It was wonderful. I have bragged about her ever since, but I don't think I ever told her how wonderful it was to see her happy and enthused and because of that somehow we were more liberated than many of my peers. Thank you, mom.