Glad It's All Over...

My boy done good. The only time I teared up was when they all marched in... single file. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them, all proving  they had accomplished something great.

They survived our greatly lacking educational system and beat the odds. They survived being taught by highly underpaid teacher's whose hands are tied by red tape and political infighting.

It was the day the first one of my kids went from PreK to high school senior in the same school system. I have been very satisfied with the education he received considering the limited funding they give to the future leaders of our nation. Maybe they should have all signed up as future lobbyists for big banks and oil companies when they signed up for school lunch that very first day.

Regardless he made it through and he has made me very proud. I kept waiting for him to screw up the graduation ceremony by standing up and screaming "I'm mad as hell about education in America and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

HAD he done that,  he most probably would have gotten more applause than the long winded Valedictorian did. I think the applause was more for the finish of the speech than the content but at least they got a rousing clapping like nobody's Bid-ness.


I have watched the two videos above time and time again. You can hear the excitement of the crowd...you can see more than several hundred young people beginning to make their mark upon the world. To know that your child is one of them is an exhilarating experience. To know that your child is capable of greatness beyond your wildest dreams is encouraging...hoping they use their God given talent gives you momentary pause and a reason to cross your fingers behind your back and make last minute deals with the Big Guy upstairs.

I remember when Zach first bucked the system with a liberty spike mo hawk in eighth grade causing a furor with the principal and the first visit Tim ever made to the school to take up for Zach's lack of knowing when he looked truly stupid but  using his constitutionally given freedom of expression . I should have known  I was in trouble then but as Tim said when he came home "If we can get this boy out of school he will be the next Bill Gates."

He's bucked, he's debated he's rationalized and he's skirted the rules...but  has made it and I couldn't be prouder if he had been  valedictorian.

HAD he been valedictorian... that would have been a speech EVERYONE would have remembered. He is eloquent and on point with his thoughts and views of what is wrong with this world and seems to have a grasp on what truly needs to be done and how to at least attempt to attain it.

If he fulfills his potential I hope he remembers it was me that shoved him kicking and screaming down the path of life.

As a good friend reminded just the other day, "Cotton... the fabric of our lives."

Til next time...COTTON