Those Who Inspire Me - Jessica Deters

This young lady turns 23 today.  Dave and I ask ourselves, "Where did the time go?"  I wanted to take a minute to tell you a bit about her and why she inspires me.

College graduation - May 2017

First off - funny story.  She is our first born.  I come from a family of all girls and there is no one carrying on the Lombardi name.  We wanted to have at least one boy so we would have someone to carry on the name.  Without getting into any details here, let's just say we did everything we knew to do to conceive a boy.  THEN we had an ultrasound when I was about 7 months pregnant and the doctor confirmed we were having a boy.  (Apparently we should have listened more to the nurse when she told us, "He doesn't know how to read those things.")  I will NEVER forget the feeling I had when the doctor held her up to me and said, "Tell everyone what it is?"  I couldn't speak.  I just stared as if in suspended animation.  I kept thinking that does not look like a boy?  The doctor finally had to help me along and he said, "Is it a girl?"  I nodded, yes.

Baby Dedication - 1994

Well, she is my only daughter and I cherish our relationship.  She was an only child for 5 years and we did a ton of stuff together.  I'm slightly a Type A personality which I'm sure I passed on to Jess (sorry Jess).  When she was 2 or younger I had color schedules with pictures from the dinosaur computers of the day.  Eat breakfast (picture), make bed (picture), get dressed (picture), go to playground (picture)..... you get the picture.

I always knew she was smart.  She was 3 or 4 and asking what the double yellow lines in the highway meant, and what the dotted lines meant.  She observed everything and asked lots of questions.  We did a lot of puzzles and games together and I talk all the time.  I'm sure a lot of you can attest to that.  But I think it wasn't until she took the Explore test when she was in 5th grade (it's an 8th grade test.), that I realized we were in for a ride.  We received this super nice plaque in the mail that said she had received the highest score in Math for all 5th graders in the state of Colorado on the Explore Test.  And then she received another plaque that said she received the highest score in English for all 5th graders in the state of Colorado.

We started to think of other ways for her to learn and grow.  When she was 10 years old we let her go to Denver for a three day Swim with the Stars camp.  Michael Phelps was going to be there as well as other Olympic swimmers.  I was so nervous to leave her for three days.  We drive over to Denver, we get her registered, take her to her room.  She looks at us and says, Bye!  Wait, what? you don't need me?  You can leave now, she said. 

Swim with the Stars Camp

From then on she was an explorer, she's been to Australia, New Zealand, China, Italy, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, Panama and the Netherlands.

She recently graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a degree in Mathematics and Statistics and is currently enrolled at Virginia Tech where she is working on her doctorate in Engineering Education.  She is passionate about Education.

Before you have kids, you experience love completely differently.  You love your parents and siblings, your best friends, your husband, and others fiercely.  But having a child makes your heart feel like it will just burst.  All I wanted to be growing up was a mother.  I got laughed at by a high school friend when he asked me, Patty, what are you going to be.  (I had graduated 6th in my class.)  I said, I want to be a mom.  He replied, "What a waste."  Let me tell you, it has NOT been a waste at all.

Jessica has faced adversity many times and come out on top and it has been a joy to watch her persevere.  Her strength and her passion inspire me to want to be better.  So Jessica, have a very happy birthday and know that I love you very much and am inspired by you.