Mountaintop Climber

My daughter, Elizabeth, graduated from the University of California, Irvine, this past weekend.

Seeing her march up to the stage with other graduates was a huge moment for me. It was a memory I won’t ever forget.

https://uci.stageclip.com/clip/elizabeth-deluca-43pm3/

I’m pretty sure it was high on the scale of wonderful for her, too, even if the cap and gown and pomp and circumstance isn’t really her thing. 

I have watched her determination and hard work for many years. Her high school honors, her undergrad work at Michigan State University. Her work at the University of Chicago for her Master’s degree and now her doctorate from UCI.  

For her to have vision and strength to get herself to the top of all those mountaintops is incredible. And certainly not all of those peaks were a straight climb up.  She’s had to navigate many detours.    

I’ve always been able to see the compassion in her, which to me is an accomplishment in itself. It’s actually hard for me to see Elizabeth any other way. (She’s my Sweetpea).

Elizabeth

The little one who could dance or sing for no reason at all in our living room without any music. Her imagination was limitless! 

Who took joy in making her younger brother laugh. The young woman who told my late husband (when we found out he had terminal cancer) she was going to stay to help with his care and turn down the Fulbright scholarship she’d been awarded. (She was able to take the scholarship because he passed away within four weeks) 

From Trip to Ukraine
(Where Elizabeth went for her Scholarship)

She invited me to stay in Turkey to be nearer her. She told me, “You can take long walks along the Bosphorus, we can find you an apartment and maybe you could retire from teaching.” It saved me from myself and was just what I needed to push through my grieving and depression.

Elizabeth analyzed and questioned things at an early age when other children her age were still acquiring the language they needed to ask those questions.  

She seemed to know when it was time not to question, when not to confront, when not to hold others responsible. Her wisdom helped her to know when to be silent, even if her eyes and eyebrows were expressing well enough on their own without words.

I believe she saw more with those eyes than I realized. She was always processing.

She has grown into a woman who still questions regardless of how uncomfortable it may make people. She holds others responsible for what they do and confronts them. Her academic life has been enmeshed in taking note of detail in light of the human condition. I read her dissertation and I am humbled by her ability to reason with both knowledge and love.

Getting Ready to Walk for Graduation

My eyes tear up when I think of how many ounces of blood others have drawn from her because she is so loving.  But it makes me smile to think of how much power she must have inside because she’s allowed herself to feel pain and isn’t afraid to take a head-butt for herself, others or for her beliefs.

Ellie, Elizabeth's Dog
Being close (Elizabeth claims) helped diffuse dissertation-stress)

I’ve been struggling with what to give her as a gift, in honor of her accomplishments. But, instead of me having something for her, the morning of graduation she offered her time and love by taking me to the ocean for a walk. It was priceless.

I don’t see anything I’ve said as a compliment. Her life speaks for itself. My life has been much richer because her. And I would not be writing a blog without her encouragement in 2012, to start writing.......