It makes sense to go with Part 1 on this note, because there are undoubtedly many steps to the journey on which we are embarking with Christina entering high school next year.

Last night’s “High School 101” at her soon to be stomping grounds was pretty uninformative and disappointing, but that was mostly about the mechanics of the night and the execution of the speakers.  The lowlight was hearing the Principal referring to himself in the third-person with an emphasis on the “Dr.” part of his designation. It felt a little pompous, like I was living through the Jimmy episode of Seinfeld without any of the funny parts… in any event, step one is complete.

The highlight of last night was watching Kathy and Christina’s reaction at the moment they told us she can take Driver’s Ed second semester next year.  I had a “wow” reaction, Christina lit up with a “cool” look on her face, and Kathy was every bit horrified and shocked.  Welcome to the land of massively underprepared parents.  Please feel free to stay for a while…we’ll make you both full members.

Honestly, I’m excited for her, and just hope we can keep up.  None of us gets a guidebook on how to be good parents.  We’re all just figuring it out as we go, doing our best, hoping we don’t make any mistakes that will do lasting damage.  I see our role as a combination of life coach and moral compass.  Time will tell whether any of our choices were good ones.  At this point, I’m reasonably content that we’re doing the best we can under less than ideal circumstances, and our girls both seem to have their heads screwed on straight.  We’re trying to raise two responsible young women who will have the courage and conviction to trust their instincts, believe in themselves, have strong values, and be the best they can be.  It’s a tall order (especially since I could probably keep adding to that list), but they are off to a good start, and we’re just hoping to keep them on the path as best we can.  Ultimately, we just want them to follow their hearts and be happy.  As simple as that is, a lot of people in the world aren’t there, and its not a bad starting point.

In any event, sitting in the auditorium last night, and on the drive home, I was reminded how my daughters are growing up.  It’s happening right before our eyes and at a pace faster than we realize.  It seems like yesterday that Christina was entering middle school, now we have Anna getting ready to go there and Christina going into high school.  Where did the time go?  Hopefully it will slow down enough for me to get something set aside for college, because I feel like I’m the passenger in a car going full speed towards the edge of a cliff…(different topic altogether).

Some people miss having babies and small children in the house… I’m not one of them.  I love babies, but my daughters become more fascinating and amazing to me as people with every passing year. Their ability to reason, to ask questions, to challenge, to come up with ridiculous, funny things… I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I had that time with them when they were little. I prefer this part, along with the challenges that come with it.  Answering their questions makes me examine issues for myself… what we believe, how we want our relationships with others to be, how strongly we feel about doing what’s right, how we deal with adversity…

So, in closing, the quote “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” from Lao Tzu comes to mind.  The world is about to get more interesting again, and I just hope we can continue to keep up…

-CJG 01/09/2014