~ THE CIRCLE COMPLETES ~

The circle completes
May 22, 2003


At 10 in the morning this past Monday, I watched my daughter Jennifer, in
cap and gown, approach the stage at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Moore
College of Art and Design. As she strutted across the stage she faced the
sea of faces; parents, her piers, strangers; and threw up her arms in a sign
of triumph.

For one brief moment, my mind flashed to the first time I saw her in a cap
and gown sixteen years ago. They were not black, as these latest, and
probably last, were; but white. She was graduating kindergarten, and
received her first degree. Jennifer was shy, and as she faced the crowd of
smiling parents she hid her face until, while peeking through her fingers,
she saw me. Then she put her little hands down and waved. All the proud
parents laughed in delight. What a simple statement of trust and love that
was. She didn't have to hide because I was there. I doubt we understood
that this was why we laughed, but it was. She graduated kindergarten. We
took the diploma home and displayed it until, during a move, it went into a
pile of important papers in a box.

Four years ago, Jennifer graduated high school. No shy little girl, but
discovering the young woman she was in the process of becoming. She knew
her future would be in art, as she has done illustration as long as she
could hold a crayon. But now the questions loomed as to where to go. We
looked at four schools before Jennifer settled on the Moore College of Art
and Design. She was reluctant to leave home at first, but knew where her
passions where. As with all young people leaving home, she knew what she
was leaving, but not what she was walking toward. On the day I dropped her
off I had asked her if she was o.k. She said "I'm o.k. as long as I have
$18 in my pocket." This was the price of a one-way ticket back to
Harrisburg. Back home.

Four years later, Philadelphia is her home, and I visit her. Jennifer is a
twenty-two year old woman who is no longer an illustration-student, but an
illustrator. She includes me in her life, and shares her world with me. But
it is HER life and HER world. I am blessed beyond measure by having her as
a daughter, but I am all the more awed by having the WOMAN Jennifer in my
life.

I have had type-I diabetes for 36 years, and my health is somewhat frail.
While visiting during Jennifer's graduation week I had a day when I was
quite ill. Not wanting to miss my time with her, we took the day slowly.
Jennifer took me by the hand and we took many coffee/soda/sitting breaks
during our travels of the day. I didn't quite peek through my fingers to
see if she was there, but as our fingers interlaced together it was as close
as we could get.


Donna Jean Rogers