On Graduation

My sister graduated from Rice University over the weekend. Congratulations, Mary!!! On her last coherent night alive (it was Thursday night; she died the following Sunday), my mother and I talked a long time about Mary and college. That was our last conversation.

My mom was awesome in a lot of ways, but one of the biggest was she was very intent on education. For most of that conversation, my mom explained how worried she was that Mary would have a hard time adjusting to life without her and that it would compound into a bad college decision. My mom was particularly concerned that Mary would have no friends, fail out of school, and be unable to find a good job.

My mom really wanted Mary to go to Notre Dame because she felt that they would have the support and best interests of Mary in mind. Mary did not get into Notre Dame despite having excellent grades, extracurriculars, etc. I believe that this may have been the worst mistake that Notre Dame has ever made. Truly, even worse than hiring Gerry Faust as head football coach.

So, Mary proceeded to be wildly popular at school, graduate with a positive GPA (let's not get carried away here - we weren't in Kim's stratosphere here), and find a compelling job...as a dining attendant...in Antarctica. Okay, 2 out of 3 aren't bad. Congratulations, Mary!!!