JoAnne's Graduation

Early Friday morning we left for Boston to attend JoAnne's graduation.....this was a very special day as she finally was getting her Master's degree after 10 years.

It has been quite a journey for her as she left high school with a beautician's license not really knowing what she wanted to do when she "grew up"! Instead of doing hair & nails she started working in a day care for under privileged children which was the beginning of her "calling" in life.

 At that very young age she moved to New Jersey & could only find day care job for "rich bratty" children so she found a job in a group home for autistic men. This sparked an interest & from there she worked in a school for autism.

"Aunty JoJo are you sure you wearing that right?"

With Popster & Josh

At that point she decided to go to school & get a teaching degree in special education. She worked full time & graduated from Monmouth University in 2001 with her degree.

 She ended up back here in Glenville at a private school for autism & made a difference in so many lives...one in particular was a little boy named Joshua H. who became a part of our family for a few years. She started traveling between here & Boston when they opened a new school there & eventually moved there.

 The school became very successful & it was time for her to move on into the public schools & to get back into changing more lives. She loves the challenge of "naughty" kids & finding a way to help them live more "normal" lives.

To say we are proud of what she has accomplished would be an understatement.....she is one amazing person.

This is just another chapter in her life as she is going to U Mass in Sept to get a degree in ABA(applied behavior analysis) which will open another door, another chapter!

After the ceremony we got stuck in Boston traffic & it took more than an hour to travel about 4-1/2 miles to this restaurant on the harbor.  To say Popster's nerves were frazzled would be another understatement & they will probably revoke his membership for On Star as JoAnne called them so many times!

He also got to the end of this narrow alley only to have to back out again with 3 "backseat drivers"!

This was the view from our table.