My hero will wear a gown, not a cape

Not all heroes wear capes, but this weekend, mine will wear a cap and gown. Let me tell you a little bit about my hero. A devoted wife and mother of two, my hero, without a blink, packed up our life another state away and set off on a grand adventure with me. When the job I'd been working toward for years opened, she fully supported us moving away from our familiarity to a place neither of us had ever been. She is a teacher, which deserves her a hero's badge enough. But that first summer, she fell victim to a different school calendar, as school in Michigan ends in mid-June and school in Ohio begins in mid-August. Then we threw in a move in July just to keep us on our toes. My hero took a position after a pair of Zoom interviews, never having set foot in her new school. She prepared to transition from teaching in private school to public school, which is a change for any teacher. She enrolled our daughters in the school with her, driving them to school and back each day. Committed to getting them connected in Northwest Ohio, she and I also take the girls to and from their various activities almost every night. But my hero takes it all in with a smile. As part of her new job, my hero was put on a fast-track program to obtain her master's degree so she could teach College Career Plus courses. So she enrolled at Bowling Green State University, where she began taking classes in the fall of 2019, less than two months after moving to a strange new place. These classes were in addition to the full load she taught at her new school. Whereas at the end of a long day, I often de-stress with my feet up on the couch with the television on, my hero spends all of her "extra" time reading, watching required movies and writing papers for her college classes. Of course, that's only when she's not grading papers or working on lesson plans for her high school classes. My hero still finds time to take pride in our house, spend hours of quality time with our girls, cook, clean, squeeze in fun family activities and maintain so many relationships that I get exhausted scrolling through her contact list. She has not missed a game or activity of our daughters. My hero continued to work through the spring of 2020, when the pandemic hit. At the time, we had subpar rural internet, meaning our two girls tried completing online education while my hero tried to both teach her classes and work on her college coursework. My hero found a way to both shepherd our girls and get her stuff done. Instead of taking a deep breath in the strange summer of 2020, my hero powered through four college classes to set herself and her school up. When school returned in the fall of 2020, my hero apprehensively returned to the classroom and to her college coursework. In true hero fashion, she was more worried about the effects of the pandemic on her students than herself. My hero dealt with an emotional school year last year, one that was nowhere near normal. Nobody would have criticized her for taking a big, fat break in the summer. Goodness knows, she deserved it. But my hero kept pressing on, attending college classes, on-campus training and preparing for the coming year. Somehow, through all of this, she still managed to make the three of us feel like we are the most important part of her world. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a change in my hero. She had a few extra moments to sit on the patio and chat with me at the end of the night. A few extra moments to curl up with the girls and catch a good show. To build up a sweat in a workout. You see, a couple of weeks ago, my hero finished her college work. Today, she will proudly walk at graduation after achieving her master's degree. This is something my hero has wanted to pursue since I've met her, and we're amazed at the doors God has opened for us to allow her to achieve her dream. Today is my hero's day. Her students, her school, her family and I are all blessed to have her in their lives. Not all heroes wear capes, but this weekend, mine will wear a cap and gown. Speer is the publisher of The Courier, Findlay, The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin and Review Times, Fostoria. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com or jspeer@advertiser-tribune.com