Proud Moment

I am not all that close to my extended family. I am now just getting reacquainted with some of them. It is a shame on what I have missed growing up and into my adult life in terms of my paternal side of the family--there are some real great people there. One of the people I am extremely privileged to know is my cousin Dana. I am not the kind of person that lavishes compliments on a person or extends my trust to a person just for the sake of doing so. I do these things after I get to see a person and their life. My cousin has gone through some tough times in life, like most of us she has made some bad decisions along the way. Where some people might forever see those mistakes or the consequences she paid for them as the definition of her life she chose to re-define herself. This past Tuesday, my cousin Dana walked across the stage in a high school gymnasium and received her high school diploma. She went to a school and earned it and just didn't to take the test for a GED. Some might be quick to write that off as no big deal but to me it is. That takes determination and dedication at her age to accomplish that. Some people look at others lives as a measure of their mistakes. I don't anymore. I see that one of the measures of a person's life is the determination to never stop growing and to never stop changing. My cousin proved that when she walked across the stage last Tuesday. I have nothing but respect and admiration for her. It was truly a night I was proud to be associated with that side of my family.



Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike