Though everyday is an unexpected gift, there are very few moments in a lifetime when you can mark the day and say it was a turning point . . .  a momentous occasion that truly defined your work and a moment to admire the results of your long and hard toil.

You stand back, looking at your life spread out like the Grand Canyon, and realize that the river of your persistence has created all this. We can say ‘Wow this still looks, sounds, or feels amazing to behold,’ and then we return from our momentary sight seeing to the grind of carving out our life.

I had such a moment last week as I sat before a small stage in a small Florida town. I watched my daughter hoist over her head her Bachelor’s of Arts Degree from Stetson University. It was a moment that all parents should be able to enjoy.

They should all be able to experience the pride and joy of watching someone they love reach such a milestone.

For me — as a long distance parent — it was something I always believed would happen, but there were many bumps, twists and turns in our journey.  There were stop signs run, breakdowns, expensive repairs, and a few collisions, but in the end another destination was reached.

My best friend describes it best as a “Life Moment.” I sat in the audience and flashed back to various parts of my daughter’s life . . . from the first diaper I changed to her first steps to her first act of rebellion to her first car . . . on and on the pictures turned in my mind. 

There was a time when the words “I don’t know if I want to go to college” came out of her mouth. 

There was a time when we didn’t know each other or even like each other very much. 

I often wondered whether or not my energy was being wasted and I should spend it instead on the other children to follow.

But needless to say, it was worth all the work and talking and even some of the fighting.

Seeing my daughter walk those 30 feet or so made me not only appreciate the work put in, but it also made me better understand the work still ahead. 

It was an affirmation of the effort made by an entire family to love and support each other in reaching our goals. And I was reminded of things left undone in my own life that can come to pass if I continue to move forward, working everyday to meet my level of expectation.

I know that everyone who reads these words will not get to have the joy of the experience I had last week.  Not all of our sons and daughters will live up to their potential, and certainly even a college degree is no guarantee that they will be all that they can be.

But I do know that the hard and sometimes brutal work needed to get our children on their way to fulfilling their potential is worth every single bead of blood, sweat and tears.

Being there for our kids is not like a basketball or board game. Time does not expire and you never accumulate enough points to stop.

You must continually play to win, or you will lose.

Well, time for me to stop glowing and get back to work.  Next stop is law school for her, and high school for her younger brothers. Can’t wait to enjoy the next milestone in our journey.

— Gary Anthony Ramsay is a weekend anchor
and journalist on the all-news
cable station NY1 and along-time resident of Queens.