Last week was crazy. I finally graduated from college! Walking across that stage and getting my diploma was an amazing feeling. I love that my closest friends and family were there and I couldn't keep the huge grin from creeping across my face all night! And none of it would have happened without my sister.
When I graduated from high school, I went right on to college. My parents moved me from Milwaukee to Minneapolis to go to school at the U of M-Twin Cities. I loved it up there. It was beautiful, I was making friends easily and I didn't hate my classes. And then, my life crumbled. My mom's best friend was hit and killed by a car while crossing the street in Milwaukee. This man had been a mentor to me. He was the first adult that recognized my sister and I as more than just "Brigid's daughters". We were individuals to him. I has asked him to be my confirmation sponsor when I was 16. My present from him was a day trip to Chicago to pick out a dress and lunch at the Walnut Room at Marshall Fields. I had never felt like such a grown up in my life. Losing him was like a punch in the gut.
Going back to school after his funeral was a waste. I fell easily back into depression (something I have fought my whole life) and started having anxiety attacks in class. Finally, I just stopped going to school and moved home before the end of the semester.
My parents lived on the east side of Milwaukee, near the UW-Milwaukee campus, so I enrolled in classes there. My first semester back in Milwaukee wasn't bad. I had my friends and family close and felt like I could cope with the changes. I enrolled in some great acting classes and have VERY close friends to this day because of it. (Love you Aliza and Rob!) After living at home for the first semester, it was time to get an apartment. The problem was, I had a hard time balancing work, school and my social life. I moved back and forth from my parents house for the next few years. Sometimes attending class, sometimes calling it quits after just a few weeks. Finally, in 2003, I gave up. I just wasn't ready.
At the same time, my sister had left me for school in Stevens Point, WI. She made it through the first year, but also decided to come back home. She also enrolled locally to continue classes, but eventually decided that moving back to Stevens Point was the best way to finish her degree. So, she left everything in Milwaukee and moved back to Point.
That was a very hard time for me. I loved living in the same city as my sister and having her 3 hours away was tough. I visited whenever I could which ended up being at least one weekend a month. Then it got harder. Meghan moved to London for 4 months. That was really tough. We spoke almost every day, and I even got the chance to visit her. I was amazed when I went to London. The Meghan I knew had been replaced with this confident, independent, skinny woman! (Not that she wasn't before, but living by yourself in a foreign country really can change you!)
6 months later, I watched her walk the stage (sicker than a dog!) in Stevens Point. I realized that if she could do it so could I. That was in 2008, but the summer of 2010, I was enrolled in classes at Ottawa University. 4 long years later balancing 3 jobs and wedding planning and I made it. I officially have a BA in Communications with a minor in Marketing. And it's all because of my sister.
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