I’m so proud of Alexandra!!!

Soon after her 18th birthday in April she had taken her written and behind the wheel driver’s tests and passed both with her first try.

In June she graduated from Castro Valley High School.

By the time she graduated, she had secured a summer job as a paid intern at Camp Galileo in Oakland.  After acclimating to what a “real” commute was like, she probably appreciated me a bit more, and she ended up loving her job there, getting an extension for a few weeks to what her original work schedule was supposed to be.  She loved working with the kids and the professional educators, who gave her glowing recommendations.

She registered for community college in Oakland and got her classes.  She will be taking 14 credits, which is full time, and so she started looking for a permanent part-time job.

Last week she interviewed for a couple of jobs in San Francisco and Berkeley, but she had been hounding me and nagging about needing a car, even though I was not all that convinced she “needed” one and that it was not my fault that she had chosen a college that was harder to reach with public transportation.  Understandably she was a little concerned about whether it would be safe for her to finish class at 9pm once a week and take public transportation home.

So on a whim Saturday, we went to a few of the places where she noticed there were cheaper cars off the main strip by our house.  We found a “wholesale” place where none of the cars had any Carfax reports available, but we realized that what we were budgeting, there was probably no use in trying to find a top of the line used car, which is what I consider the one I have to be.

Sunday we went back to look at the car that had intrigued us the most, and the nice saleslady walked us through the steps.

I made some financial sacrifices to buy her something, even though she was between jobs and we had no assurance that she would have any income in the coming months.  I was also worried that she was being too picky about the kind of jobs she wanted and wasn’t looking locally enough.  After consulting with a few friends and family members, like my brother, we decided that the car was a worthwhile investment.  So Alex is now the very happy owner of a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer ES, a car which is actually newer than mine, even though it has more miles than mine does.  It seems to be very safe and in pretty darn good condition and Alex is elated and feels quite grown up with this new responsibility.

One day later (today), Alex heard back and she actually got the job she wanted the most!  She will be working as an activity leader Monday through Friday in the afternoons for the entire academic year at Rosa Parks Elementary School in Berkeley with kindergarteners.  This is a shorter and cheaper commute than she would have into San Francisco, and she is making more than she would be at that job.  She is also considering taking a weekend job with some of her subsequent interviews, since that won’t conflict with her classes or primary job.

Next summer she is also hoping that the summer camp that she worked at this summer will higher her back at a position with more responsibility, so for the foreseeable future, she is very well prepared for the future, and I can’t contain how proud I am of her, even if we are both paying through the nose for the convenience of having a two car household at the moment.