Mom With A Map

Mary Grace's Graduation Day
May 1st, 2026

So this is happening today. In addition to earning her high school diploma, Mary Grace has completed 86 duel enrollment college credits to earn her Associate of Arts, Associate of Science AND a scientific research designation.

Her weighted GPA starts with a 6. She's been a student athlete for the last 2.5 years, practicing 5-6 days a week. She's on the leadership team at our church, and mentors a small group of middle school girls.

Mary Grace was president of the Florida Latin club for 3 years, and tutors for Latin and SAT Prep in her spare time. She has a regular schedule for taking her car to the car wash, finds time to bake for neighbors, friends & family, and knows many of the baggers at the grocery store by name . Most impressively, she never misses a coffee or night out with her friends.

To steal the words from her favorite song, this girl is truly a "garden in Manhattan... she's sunshine in Seattle, a cool breeze in July and a flower in the concrete."

Mary Grace, keep marching to the beat of your own drum and letting your light shine BIG!

SENIOR SUNDAY

When I look back on Mary Grace's senior year, I think one of the things that's going to stand out most is the Fort Myers Coffee Crawl we did together this winter. We visited 9 local coffee shops in 6 weeks which, with her insanely busy schedule, took a lot of intention and effort.

A couple of the times we had to grab it and go, but most of the time we sat down to chat about to-do lists, life and debate what makes good coffee.

Inspired, we've decided to create our own Mexican restaurant crawl next year in Miami so that when I visit, we can check out a bunch of new spots. Let us know if you have any recommendations for our list!

I ordered her cap and gown this week...the countdown is on.

From her first race as a Kindergartner, to (what will probably be) her last race of senior year...

Before sailing, running was her sport. Early on, I might have grumbled my way through coaching several seasons of Girls on the Run, but truthfully there's nothing I wouldn't give to turn back time to those days! I loved having a front row seat to watching her passion develop.

Leaving her Legacy running team was probably the hardest part (for her) of doing the Loop, but I'm thankful she's found her way back to the pavement. Last March, after doing her first 10K, she decided to retire her tennis shoes for a bit to have more time for sailing. Mary Grace may not be setting a PR anytime soon, but it was so good to see a big smile on her face last night as she ran the Edison 5K!

I'm a little hesitant to say 'best weekend ever' because Miller was gone for 95% of it...but he was living his best life at church camp so I don't feel that badly!

Last weekend we managed to squeeze in all of our favorite things:
• Long walk on the beach with an absolutely gorgeous sunset
• Lunch on the water with friends
• Watching MG and Wythe's sailing practice
• Awesome Super Bowl party
• Brent and I spent the night on anchor at Marker 92
• Coffee and a delicious breakfast at the Westin
• 2 full days of boating

Sometimes this season of life feels a little out of control crazy, but ultimately everyone is happy (though a little sleep deprived!)