Deal!

Alright so I told you that my friend Tia was on Deal or No Deal. It was really exciting! However, she only walked away with $300. Although, what most people would be disappointed with, she is thrilled. Would she have liked the $1 million? Oh you bet! But she had a once in a life time experience and she had the time of her life.

Tia is an amazing person. She is one of those people when you meet, you get the real thing. She lets it all out and if you don't like that she doesn't let it bother her. She is completely content in being who she is all of the time.

I met Tia on the track team at UNC Charlotte. She is a great javelin thrower and so is her high school sweet heart Mike, who is also on the team. Now to let you know a little about Tia and Mike, they have a kid. I think this is the part that I admire about her the most. She had a baby right about the time she graduated from high school. Mike was all set to come down here to UNCC and she stayed home (somewhere up north) at a community college. Mike flew home every weekend to see her and the baby, Thomas, (his dad is a pilot) and as you can imagine, that was really hard on all of them. So our track coach talked Tia into coming to UNCC and throwing jav for us, and the following year she moved down here with Thomas. So that is how Tia came into our lives at UNCC.

I will never forget the conversation I had with Tia about Thomas, who is an adorable child! He is over 2 years old now and I can honestly say he is one of the cutest kids I have ever seen. At a track meet at App last year we were talking about when she got pregnant and these are her words, "I know I should have waited. I was always taught to wait and I believe in waiting, but I didn't. But if I had not had that baby and if I waited to have a child for another 4 years, it wouldn't have been the same baby." A complete stranger could have a conversation with Tia about Thomas and know that he is the light of her life and she couldn't imagine her life without him. All too often people think of how a baby will "ruin" their lives, but a baby is a blessing. Just ask Tia and she will tell you Thomas has blessed her life in so many ways that we couldn't even being to understand.

Now I will tell you, its hard! Tia and Mike juggle school, track, work, and being parents. No one said it would be easy and they will tell you its not, but ask either one and they will say it is worth it. I believe that any teenage girl who is pregnant should take a look into a woman like Tia, who has been there and done that, before making any decisions about aborting a baby. Each baby has a purpose and a future and will bless you if you let it. I believe Tia would say having that baby was the best deal she ever made.