A graduation photo shoot turned into something Lucky Asker says she will never forget.
The 26-year-old Ohio mom had planned to mark her Ohio State University graduation with photos alongside her son, Idrees, who was 11 months old at the time. Instead, she ended up capturing one of his biggest milestones, too.
In a video shot by photographer Brenna Marie and shared on Instagram, Idrees is seen taking his first steps as Asker adjusts her cap before a photo.
“It felt completely unreal. For a second, I didn’t even process what was happening. I was just watching him like, ‘Wait… is this really it?’ ” Asker tells PEOPLE. “In that moment, it felt like everything paused, and at the same time, everything flashed through my mind. All the little moments him as a newborn, the long nights, his first crawl, all of it. It hit me how much he’s grown in such a short time.”
Asker graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Public Health and a specialization in Sociology. She had welcomed Idrees before her last semester, and she said having him at the shoot felt right.
Reflecting on the moment, Asker says it still makes her “emotional” to think about how quickly he has grown since he was born.
“It was such an emotional moment,” she tells PEOPLE. “I was already celebrating my graduation, and then to see him take his first steps right then, it just made everything feel even more meaningful and so, so special.”
Asker says the moment felt like she and her son, now 20 months old, were each moving into something new at the same time.
“It felt like two milestones happening at the same time, me closing one chapter of my life by graduating, and my son beginning a new one by taking his first steps. It’s something I’ll always hold onto because it represents how much we both grew during that time,” she tells PEOPLE. “It really felt like we were both taking our first steps, just in different ways. In a way, it feels like we grew up together.”
“As he was learning how to walk, I was learning how to become a mom, how to keep going, and how to step into a new version of myself,” she adds. “That moment means everything to me, it’s definitely something I’ll be reminding him of when it’s his turn to graduate one day.”
The graduation itself came after what Asker described to PEOPLE as a difficult stretch. She said she balanced school, an internship and first-time motherhood while finishing her degree.
“After giving birth, I had a long labor that ended in a C-section, and shortly after being discharged, I had to be readmitted to the hospital due to postpartum preeclampsia. Postpartum is already such a vulnerable time, and navigating a health complication on top of recovery made things even more challenging,” she shares.
She said she tried to finish as much coursework as possible before coming home so she could focus on her son, and when that did not happen, she worked after he went to sleep.
“There were long days and moments where I felt overwhelmed, but at the same time, it gave me so much purpose,” she continues. “I tried to complete as much of my coursework as I could before coming home, so that when I was with him, I could be fully present. And on days when that wasn’t possible, I would finish everything after he went to sleep. Looking back, it was one of the most challenging periods of my life, but also one of the most meaningful.”
Asker, who shares Idrees with partner Charles Cartwright, 29, said her son became her “biggest motivation” during that period. She also said being a first-generation immigrant pushed her to finish her degree.
“On the days when I felt exhausted or overwhelmed, I would remind myself why I started and who I was doing it for,” explains Lucky, who says her status as a first-generation immigrant also pushed her to stay the course and get her degree. “I wanted to build a better future for both of us and show him what it looks like to keep going, even when things are hard. He gave everything I was doing a deeper meaning.”
She said support from her family also mattered.
“I also wouldn’t have been able to do it without my support system , my husband and my family, especially my sisters , who stepped in and helped me so much along the way,” she adds.
For other moms thinking about higher education, Asker told PEOPLE to give themselves grace and take things one day at a time.
“It’s not always going to be easy, and there will be moments where you feel overwhelmed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it,” she says. “Looking back, I even had to split my semester because I was going through so much, and that taught me that it’s okay to recognize when your cup is too full. You don’t have to do everything all at once. And honestly, if I hadn’t made that decision, I might not have even had this moment captured these videos and photos of my son taking his first steps.”
