There were moments when all three seemed to be angry with me at the same time.
There were arguments.
There were difficult teenage years.
And there were plenty of days when I wondered whether I was making the right decisions.
But I kept going.
What I Gave Up
Over the years, I made sacrifices that I rarely talked about.
I turned down opportunities that would have taken me away from home.
I missed vacations.
I skipped events with friends.
I never had much time to think about starting a family of my own.
It wasn’t because the girls demanded those sacrifices.
They didn’t.
It was simply that someone needed to be there.
And I had decided that person would be me.
Sometimes people would tell me that I had given up too much.
Maybe I had.
But whenever I saw the three of them together, I felt that the years had been worth it.
Then, almost without warning, twenty-two years had passed.
The three little babies who once needed me for everything were now young women preparing to graduate from college.
Graduation Day
On graduation morning, I woke up earlier than usual.
My beard had turned gray.
My knee had started bothering me constantly.
And the cheap camera I had bought for the occasion shook slightly in my hand because I was more nervous than I wanted to admit.
I found a seat in the crowd and waited.
Eventually, the ceremony began.
Names were called one after another.
Then I heard the first familiar name.
“Ava.”
She walked across the stage with tears in her eyes.
I stood up and applauded.
A few moments later, Claire’s name was announced.
She waved toward me from the stage with the same playful smile she’d had since she was eight years old.
I laughed and waved back.
Then came June.
She walked more slowly.
Unlike her sisters, she didn’t smile.
She looked unusually serious.
I wondered what was going through her mind.
All three had finally reached the moment we’d spent more than two decades working toward.
I thought the ceremony was almost over.
Then the dean returned to the microphone.
“We have one more presentation before we close.”
The crowd became quiet.
I looked toward the stage.
The three girls were walking back together.
I had no idea why.
