Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful. (T. Hanh)

July 10, 2019– Several weeks after she started attending St. Louis de Montfort Catholic School, I met the mom of the “new girl” in Nick’s class, Mia Driscoll. I think I said something to this beautiful mom about how sweet little Mia is and that I hoped she was feeling welcomed by her new classmates. She looked at me and said, “Mia?” I motioned over to her daughter and said, “Aren’t you Mia’s mom?” That’s when she looked at me and kind of rolled her eyes and said, “Ah. Yes. My daughter’s name is Mary, but evidently she’s going with Mia? I was unaware.” At the time, I wasn’t sure how to respond, as I didn’t want to offend this new mom I was trying to draw in to the community but it was hard to contain my laughter. Kids crack me up. As I look back on it now, this makes me giggle even more!

Independent, witty and spiritually oriented, Mia is most definitely also a spunky, adventurous young lady. She’s pictured above with her Dad, John, in their Boilermaker gear. Mia is a stunningly gorgeous young woman who is headed into her senior year at Purdue University this fall…and today is her birthday!

A few months back, Tom and I decided to go grab a drink and a little bite to eat at a little place close to the house. The service was not amazing. Well, to be completely candid, the tacos we ordered were delivered with no filling. We were just kind of staring at them when Mia came upon us. I’ve only seen her a handful of times since she and Nick graduated together from Guerin Catholic so it was a treat to see that grin once again. She gave me a big bear hug, and a smile and caught me up on things for a minute. That’s when I realized that although she was not our waitress, she was in fact waiting tables there because she looked at our empty taco shells and said, “Oh, geez! I see there’s a problem and I shall fix it for you!!” She waived her arms, grapped the plate and she was off to play hero!

Mia is just a bucketful of sunshine. Those are my kind of folks. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA! Here’s hoping your senior year at Purdue is your best year yet! BOILER UP, sweet girl!