Yesterday, Zach and I went to visit the principal of the public high school he will attend next year. The main purpose of our visit, other than to meet this very nice gentleman, was to determine if Zach would be able to enter as a sophomore, based on the high school credits he has earned thus far in our home school.
I had no doubts when I turned in the detailed course of study and transcripts required when Gabe and Ellen, my now 24- and almost-23-year-old offspring, were going through their college admissions process five years ago at this time. I knew that their high school academics had been rigorous enough to stand scrutiny.
It was a little different with Zach, in that, not having planned on this turn in the road, I had structured his high school course of study a little differently from that of the big kids, and he has only completed one year of that plan. (Someone laughed at me the other day when I used that term “big kids”. I grew up in a family where the space of a few years separated the older two of us who were only 15 months apart from the younger three, who were 18 months apart–a single followed by twins. So, it has come naturally to me to call Gabe and Ellen the “big kids” since they are separated in age from Zach by 9 and 7 years, respectively.) A couple of Zach’s courses from this year were intended to be part of course work that we would complete later on in his high school course work. Nonetheless, I wrote the documentation of his credits up the best way I could and went off to our meeting with the principal.
The upshot made my day: Zachs’s credits will transfer, which means he can enter public high school as a sophomore. (This was a significant thing; he had said that if he had to enroll as a freshman, he might not want to go away to school after all.) And, though it was an unexpected turn of events, his grades will not transfer. In the big picture, this seems like a good thing: he will establish his grade point starting with the classes he takes there. This makes sense to me; even though I have always tried to be objective when giving grades to my homeschool students, accepting my grades would create something of an apples and oranges situation for Zach’s new school. This way, his grades earned and his high school diploma awarded will reflect totally the school’s academic program.
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I was driving Zach to work at midday today. As we passed a downtown hotel and were about to round the corner, a pedestrian caught our attention. He was dressed in a very fine manner, was pulling a piece of wheeled luggage, and was practically dancing as he moved down the sidewalk with a big grin on his face. As we passed him, we could see he was talking on a cell phone. I wondered what he was hearing that was putting such a spring in his step. Zach’s comment was: “That guy just made my day. Don’t say anything about him, Mom.” I think Zach’s message to me was: Just let me appreciate that little bit of seredipity, that unexpected joy spot in this day. Point well-taken, Son.
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My friend’s daughter is getting married on Saturday. Said friend came over this afternoon to firm up my responsibilities at the reception (another mutual friend and I are in charge of beverages.) and, maybe, for a little moral support from a former mom-of-the-bride. She had told me earlier in the week that a dear friend of hers, who was going to sing at the wedding and was also in charge of setting up the table decorations for the reception, had just been diagnosed with what is believed to be lung cancer and is not up to either of those tasks for Saturday. That has been an added stressor and low point emotionally in my friend’s week, as you can imagine. Today, the mother-of-the-bride told me a very cool “God thing” that happened: She went to a musical activity at her church last night and one of the leaders said to her, “God pretty much told me I needed to ask you if there was any way I could help you out with the wedding.” When taking on the task of the reception decorating was mentioned, the leader was more than happy to help and that is one more thing that the mother-of-the-bride can roll off her own shoulders. Not only did the lady who was listening to God’s voice bless my friend, but she served to encourage the friend with lung cancer as well, reminding her that God has a way of taking care of things and, more importantly, of us.
Doesn’t that just make your day?
Through Changing Eyes 