The last 3 years of
my life have been the hardest that I have faced to date. My
feet felt as if they were stuck in
concrete as the world swirled around me completely out
sorts with anything that made any
rational sense to me. In 2010, my wife, after 13 years
of marriage took my world and turned
it completely upside down when she decided
being married was not what she wanted
anymore in life. Swiftly leaving me alone to
raise my two children, one six years
old and the other eight nearly all on my own. I was
a wreck. I was heartbroken,
dumbfounded and completely paralyzed. I spent the next
two years of my life re-learning
everything I thought I already had well in hand. It was
shocking to me to see how quickly life
can turn on a dime.
It was also during
this time that my place of work started to undergo some major
changes. The partners had decided that
they were ready to sell the company after
building it for nearly 12 years. When
I started at the company there were 16 employees.
At the time of sale, there were 50 and
now we are pushing 75 with plans to be at over
100 by the end of next year. We are
now owned by a Fortune 500 company that knows
little about me other than my employee
identification number. It did not take to long for
me to realize the need to start
separating myself from the tremendous talent that I have
been lucky enough to work with over
the last 10 years. That is when I decided to take
the leap and go back to school.
Davenport University
has been a perfect fit for me. Being a single father, the
online classes offered me the
flexibility to work all day, be the best dad I know how to be
at night and then when it is my time,
work on developing and improving me. At a time
when I desperately needed to regain
confidence and focus my energy on positive goals,
Davenport was there. I must admit, I
was a bit concerned when I first looked into this
new adventure. Since then though, all
doubt has been erased. I am thrilled with the
quality of the instruction I have
received. All of the students that I have encountered to
date are of strong character and
abilities. One of the most pleasant surprises has been
the instructors. All seem to have a
passion for what they are doing and a genuine desire
to help bring out the best that I have
to offer. No small feat considering I have never
personally met any of them.
Somehow saying thank
you just does not seem to cover my appreciation. The
opportunity to further my career while
not missing out on the precious moments of my
kids youth have been invaluable. It
has allowed me to be a coach, “that parent”
screaming and cheering at dance
recitals, to enjoy dinner at the dinner table with the
family, to read bedtime stories and
say prayers, to hold a full time job and probably most
important, to help me get back the
confidence and self-worth that I loss during the
biggest challenge of my life. Never
will you know how much the opportunity means to
me. I know it is not much, but thank you.
