Bucket List No. 2 - Graduate College

Proud Graduate Stephani Elise Redmond

As soon as we found Kendra's Bucket List and decided to try and fulfill as many of the items as we could, Stephani said right away, I will help with No. 2 - Graduate College.  Which was a good thing, as she was the only one who would be able to do so.  Steph and Kendra actually were in college at the same time for awhile. Steph said they joked about graduating together.  Kendra actually could have fulfilled this one herself.  We thought she was going to graduate in the spring of 2015, as that was her last semester, but that did not happen.  We found out right before she died, that she had not even attended school that last spring.  But the Friday before she died, she had called school and set up an appointment with the school counselor for the following week.  She was so excited that she was going to complete her college education and was even thinking about changing her major and getting into a program for counseling and working with addiction and abuse.  I think she would have been great at that, I feel like she had finally found her calling. 

Getting her Diploma

But it was not meant to be, we will never know what she could have accomplished.  I was so happy though, to see that light back in her eyes, her excitement and I could see she was gaining back her self esteem.  We even went school supply shopping that afternoon.  I have never seen anyone get so excited picking out just the right pens, notebooks and folders.  Kendra always loved going school supply shopping and I remember that day with her like it was yesterday.  She was laughing and smiling and she felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of her shoulders.  I will be forever grateful that that was our last day with her.  Because all I will remember are the laughs, tears, hugs, smiles and sheer joy of spending time with her, she was like our old Kendra, only without all the baggage.

Showing all her love for her sister

 So on May 6, 2018, Stephani Elise Redmond graduated from Maryville University, summa cum laude and earning a dual major in Education.  She proudly wore Kendra on her cap and even put Kendra's last line in her journal, GOOD THINGS ARE COMING. I have never been more proud of our youngest daughter than at that moment.  I am pretty sure that when Kendra wrote that line in her journal, two days before she died, that she was thinking of all kinds of good things coming her way. I am sure she was thinking continued sobriety, finishing school, getting a good job, spending time with her kids, anything other than her life ending.  But she got better than good, she graduated with the highest honors to a place better than any university, she went to her forever home with her Heavenly Father.  I like to think she knew Steph did this for her, that she was grateful, happy and proud of her little sister.  We saw a beautiful rainbow on the way home and I thought that was her sign, a thank you for letting her tag along on Steph's big day.  And to you Stephani, we all wish you every good thing to be coming your way.  It was a day we will never forget, a day of seeing sisterly love in action.

Stephani and Kendra - 2018