A couple of days ago, my parents did something for my brothers and me that showed us once again how amazing they are and it made me think about all the things they've done for us throughout the years that went above and beyond the call of parental duty. Most of you who read this blog know me from my affiliation with Santa Clara University, but what many of you may not know is that I almost didn't go there. When I received the financial aid offer from Santa Clara, it didn't provide enough to make up the balance for what my parents could afford. It was a very sad day for both me and my parents and I resigned myself that I would go to Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo (my only back-up school). If you look at my senior year high school yearbook, you'll see that the majority of entries wish me luck at Cal Poly. It's only a rare few that caught the headlining news that I was able to go to Santa Clara University after all. Because unbeknownst to me, my mom had been writing/calling/(terrorizing?) the financial aid department at SCU, forging my signature on key documents (like my signature of acceptance, for starters), until I was offered an aid package that included enough loans and work study (hello mailroom!) to attend. It was an amazing thing to do and I am deeply grateful every day for what my mom (and dad) did - because to imagine what my life would have been like without my SCU experience is very hard and very scary.