I love my family. I am very blessed to be a part of a large family who genuinely cares about each other. So when monumental moments happen in our lives, we all try to be there to support one another.

Last weekend, my younger brother Will was getting his doctorate after many years of hard work and dedication. He would be receiving his Doctorate in Musical Arts in Church Music from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a music minister at a Baptist Church in Buford, GA (a suburb of Atlanta).

So obviously with this amazing accomplishment Will would be receiving, I knew I would want to get down there to support him. However, since I was gone so much in November, I knew I would need to fly so I wouldn’t be gone for more than 2 days tops.

It was a wonderful weekend. My Dad and his new girlfriend (Suzanne), my older brother Warren and my sister Julie along with her husband PJ all made the trip to support Will and his family.

I got in early Friday afternoon and was able to walk around for a few hours before meeting up with the rest of the family.

Once everyone else arrived, we headed over to The French Quarter to have dinner. After dinner, we walked around more of the French Quarter (including the famous Bourbon Street) before stopping over at Cafe Du Monde to get beignets. They were so good! (Sugar overload!)

The next day, I got up early and headed down to the hotel gym for a nice and easy 5 mile run (training for a marathon never stops!). Later that morning we headed over to the Seminary for the graduation service. Most of Deanna’s family (Will’s wife) came down along with a few friends from the church Will works at. Needless to say…we had a huge “Will Cheering Section” upstairs in the balcony.

It was a wonderful service and celebration for so many men and women receiving degrees, including quite a few masters and doctoral degrees. The amount of time, dedication and work Will put into this degree is amazing. He went through quite a bit during the years he was working on it. Between the loss of our mother, grandparents, Will’s father-in-law and nephew, I couldn’t be more proud of him. I know how proud our mother would have been of him as well.

After the service, we headed over to a wonderful lunch celebration hosted by Deanna and her family. I caught a ride back to the airport mid-afternoon and flew back to Atlanta that evening. While it was a quick trip, it was such a meaningful time with my family.

Congrats Dr. William Whittaker!