060 - From Bowling Green to Fort Worth: Celebrating McKenna’s Next Chapter

In this episode, Stephanie and I share the full story of McKenna’s college graduation weekend and our trip to Fort Worth, Texas, as she prepares for law school at Texas A&M.

We talked about the smaller social work ceremony at Western Kentucky University, where McKenna received multiple honors, including recognition for her research work and the Outstanding BSW Award for the Bowling Green campus. Stephanie shared what it felt like to hear one of McKenna’s professors describe her as a “once in a decade student,” and we both reflected on the joy of seeing McKenna recognized for the hard work, character, and self-motivation she has carried for years.

We also shared about the larger graduation ceremony, the special moment when the dean hugged McKenna as she received her diploma, and the deep gratitude we felt watching all three of our kids together. One of Stephanie’s favorite moments was seeing Meagan, Matthew, and McKenna walking together, laughing with each other after the ceremony.

From there, we talked about our trip to Fort Worth to tour Texas A&M School of Law and look at apartments with McKenna. The law school visit gave us both even more confidence that this is the right next step for her. We were impressed by the support system, the Aggie Network, the career placement focus, and the way the school seems deeply invested in the success of its students beyond graduation.

We also shared a few travel stories from the trip, including the rental car adventure, apartment hunting, breakfast with Mark Mason, and the realization that we will probably be flying to Texas a lot over the next three years.

This episode is really a family update, a graduation celebration, and a reflection on the transition from one meaningful season of parenting into the next.