Another Door Opens

We spent last night doing one of the most remarkable things a parent can do...we watched our oldest defend her architecture project in her FINAL REVIEW!!! She will be graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University next Tuesday and we are the proudest parents.

Caty has always been an amazing kid, certainly to us, but what an awe inspiring thing to watch your little girl shine like the professional, polished young woman you know she is. I can say with all objectivity, she really is amazing. For the uninitiated, working toward an architecture degree is a grueling process. Many sleepless nights, 5 years of agonizing over the smallest detail, mind numbing boredom followed by flat out panic, development of artistic, engineering and verbal skills, and criticism that would eviscerate a lesser mortal. Every project is reviewed by a panel of professors and professional architects. It often seems the whole point of the review is to destroy the student.

Caty has been through dozens of reviews and she handled this last one with grace and humor. She defended her design so well. In the end the architects were very happy, her professors were complimentary and her mom and dad were ecstatic. Shouting and gesticulating were not allowed but I know we both wanted to jump on our chairs and hand pump. Tom Cruise has nothing on us.

And why is she so amazing you may ask, well, aside from the fact that she is my daughter and therefore everything she does is amazing, she finished her 5 year degree in 4 1/2 years and she is still considered one of the "sweetest girls" you ever could meet. (That's what others say about her, not just her mom.) If she weren't my daughter I would still want to be her friend, she is that incredible.

Congratulations Catydid, well done!!