Emma's University results

Just before 10:00 this morning, a call comes from Emma to say that she has been emailed her overall result and, perhaps to her surprise, she has achieved a First. Last year she also got a First but felt she was very marginal - she was at the 24% point and the top 26% got Firsts - so she didn't go into this year's exams feeling that a First was exactly on the cards. Then one of her papers went very poorly she thought, followed by one that went very well. Her others were average she thought. Her dissertation was very good though. Overall she thought she was a high 2-1 overall, but you never know.

So far she only knows the overall result - not her individual scores which she will get from her tutor in the next day or so. She seemed rather overwhelmed by it when I spoke to her. Her friends had planned a picnic and some punting, but Emma is thinking about having a quiet day and maybe going for a run followed by watching the budget on t.v.

So armed with her First in Economics from Trinity, Cambridge, Emma is about to set off into the wild world. I feel we have done all we can now to set her up, now it is more in her court.

Once again, an event like this causes me to think about my Dad, who died nearly four years ago now. This time four years ago, Emma was on a trip to the USA and would come back convinced that she no longer wanted to study there. Dad was too ill by this stage to really have much to say about this, but I remember talking to him about it. It remains the saddest thing in my life that Dad didn't live to see Emma succeed in getting into Cambridge or to alive to see her current triumph. On Thursday we attend the graduation ceremony. Dad would have loved to have gone to an event like this and would have been so proud. It breaks my heart that he isn't here to share this moment.