Chapter 1 #2
Both mother and daughter were ecstatic with each others’ news. Their conversation was animated and continued for several minutes talking about life, the world, and everything.
“Shall we call Dad and break it to him? His two favorite women in grad school?” Ashley snickered.
“Splendid idea,” Jessica chirped.
“Super. Hang on and I’ll dial him in.” After a few beeps and rings Todd answered.
“What’s up, my sweet?” Her father’s clear, baritone voice resonated through the phone. The two women started talking at the same time.
“Whoa! Hold on. Jess, you go first.”
“We have some very exciting news.” Jessica paused. “Both of us got fellowships for our master’s degrees.”
“Like mother, like daughter. My two brainiacs.” Ashley could tell her father was beaming. He always said how proud he was of “his smart girls.” Not that he was uneducated or unintelligent; he just enjoyed listening to Ashley and her mother talking about music, art, and literature.
When they ended their call, Ashley noticed a new email had arrived in her inbox.
It was her DNA test results. She reached toward the laptop, then with her finger in midair, she slammed it shut before she could open the report.
Ashley decided to “live in the moment” and enjoy the exciting and wonderful news she just received.
Graduation was in a few days and she planned to celebrate it grandly.
Her parents, and three of her closest friends, agreed to share the expense of a private dinner at one of the finer dining establishments in the area.
Jessica had Face-Timed with the other girls’ mothers, and they planned out the menu.
Jessica had a flair for floral arrangements and decided she would decorate the dining table with the “Swarthmore” hybrid tea rose, a pink blend of color with double blooms. Ashley and her gal pals agreed to wear all-white dresses with red shoes.
Ashley’s mother purchased four identical scarves for them to wear with their dresses, and the scarves would serve as a memento of their time together.
The commencement ceremony was a joyful event, filled with inspirational speeches. As she walked across the stage to receive her diploma, Ashley spotted her parents in the audience. They were beaming, their eyes filled with happy tears. She knew they were proud of her accomplishments.
After caps were thrown in the air and pictures taken, Ashley and her friends headed to the restaurant.
Champagne was served as the guests arrived and then each girl made a short speech.
The young women waxed poetic about the fun, exams, and a few things they had neglected to tell their parents before.
No one was surprised that they drove to Churchill Downs to watch the famous “Run for the Roses,” the Kentucky Derby.
They justified it by saying the school flower was a rose.
Ashley gestured her champagne flute toward one of the many displayed on the table to punctuate the story.
Everyone laughed, inviting more stories of their college antics.
It was a bittersweet ending to four years of hard work, and good fun.
The following day everyone gathered on the sidewalk waiting for their ride into the next chapter of their lives.
There were lots of hugs and tears and promises to “keep in touch.” Ashley was realistic enough to know the odds of having more than one friend stay in your life were slim, especially since everyone lived at least an hour’s drive from each other.
Ashley was from Doylestown, and her friends were scattered throughout Upstate New York, North Carolina, and Delaware.
Plus, next year she would be studying in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Ashley was both excited and nervous about this next step.
Although she travelled a bit on family vacations and outings with her friends, this would be the first time she would be living anywhere but Pennsylvania.
She grew up in Doylestown, a small suburb on the outskirts of Philadelphia; and Swarthmore, also a small town outside of Philly, was just an hour from her hometown.
From what she could tell online, Hanover didn’t seem much different.
It was also a small town, and only a six-hour drive away.
The transition shouldn’t be too difficult, although the workload and pressure of graduate school would be much more intense.
Ashley planned to get her master’s in a year and then on to her PhD, which would take another five.
It was a noble goal. Challenging but doable.
As the vehicles pulled up in front of the dorms, Ashley spotted her father’s Winnebago. All of her friends recognized his home on wheels and waved enthusiastically. Todd Chapman honked his horn twice in greeting.
Jessica and Todd exited the RV. Ashley took an exceptionally long look at their faces, their stature, and their mannerisms. There was no mistaking that they were her natural parents.
A sense of relief washed over her. She didn’t realize how much the doubt in the back of her mind had been weighing on her.
Her eyes welled up with tears of joy and relief.
Her father, a spry fifty-six-year-old, hoisted Ashley’s steamer trunk and banker boxes into his motorhome. More hugs and tears followed as she bid adieu to her “college-fam,” ready for her future.