Thank You

I haven't blogged in a LONG time and I honestly don't know how to start this. I feel like this might be a good way to let people know how I'm doing and how the family is doing... I also know that more "thank yous" are necessary than can be expressed in a simple Facebook status....

So to start off, I want to thank everyone who has been there, in a myriad of ways, over the past few months. All of the meals, the cards, the visits to my mom in the hospital, the small presents to cheer her up, the flowers, the conversations, the hugs, the tears, the laughs that were shared, the advice and concern for our family, the uplifting and encouraging Facebook comments, the positive thoughts, the prayers, for coming to celebrate my mother's life on July 10th and 11th and for all of those who continue to be there for my family and for each other as we reflect in both saddness and happiness on how she has touched our lives-- THANK YOU. From the bottom of my heart.


My mom is an amazing person who lives on in so many ways. Instead of mourning her loss in sadness, I look forward to finding her in each new day. Sometimes it's a flower or a plant she liked or sometimes it's when I find myself giving advice that was given to me by her. While these moments often bring on tears, it does make me happy to realize how many ways I carry her with me.

Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you

Ok so again I am back at it..... trying to keep up with this challenge. At this point I have abandoned the everyday blogging, especially because I am mid-thesis writing and extra writing is almost too much for me.

Someone who inspires me....

Me & my momma

My momma. Claudia Ann Collins. She's inspired me in too many ways to count....I hardly know where to start. When I was little she made my life so much fun and exciting because she always had an art project for me to do, a song to sing along to or a place to visit that opened my eyes up to the world. Yearly visits to art museums, arboretums, the franklin institute, wetlands institutes, American girl doll fashion shows, GOLD (aka girls overnight leadership development) and daily runs to the local rec fields and schools for sports- she did it all. My life was so full of activity and excitement and I owe it all to her.  She's such a smart and strong women- graduated college in 3 years and got her master's at UConn, and she definitely set the bar high for me.  In between all of her amazing maternal talents she has overcome heart problems and beaten breast cancer and she even teaches ESL at a local school. Like I said, she's supermom.  Now as I am about to defend my thesis and graduate with my master's it really brings me back to what has fueled my interest in higher ed and a lot of that has come from my mom. It's exciting that as I grow older I see that we have more things in common (seriously, right down to our handwriting) and when I look back at pictures of her when she was 25 we look strikingly alike.  All in all, I am just thankful that she is my mother and she helped me get where I am today. I really don't think I would be where I am today without her.