Moving On

This is a strange season for me. My youngest child, my only son is finishing his public school days. This journey began for me in August of 1985 when our oldest, Sarah skipped off to her first day of kindergarten. If I did my math correctly that is 23 years of having children in public school. That's a long time folks! It's a lot of lunch boxes, brown bags, spiral notebooks, new pencils, backpacks, etc...! I feel the passage time in my body. I no longer spring out of bed, ready to do an assembly line of ponytails and ribbons, getting myself and three little girls ready for a day at school. Richard wakes up at least an hour before me. He makes his own lunches and patiently waits for his old mother to hobble down the stairs, bleary-eyed and groggy.
I love him! He is so much like his father in the way he treats me. He is kind and patient. He compliments me and always asks how I am feeling.

I looked all through my external hard drive for these photos and couldn't find them. I got out the old scrap books and took pictures of pictures, which is why they are blurry!

 

Here is Richard with his Mom (me!) the day he first met his teacher for Kindergarten
He was so proud of his Star Wars backpack and loved the huge Darth Maul band Aide on his scraped-up knee!

This is Richard after he came homeon his first day of Kindergarten in August of 2000.

If I could go back 13 years and whisper in my own ear I would tell myself to be the same kind of mother I had always been but to be brave. The ride was going to be rough and painful. While Richard has brought great joy to our lives, he has faced challenges that have given all of us sorrow too. I don't really want to focus on that but just recognize that it is a reality. He has struggled mightily, more than anyone but his Dad and I will ever know. We work with him daily, trying not to cross the line of taking over and doing it all for him. We pray for him daily, that the discouragements of the past will be replaced by a desire to achieve and continue on in his learning. He has two classes to finish through Electronic High School before he will receive his diploma. He is still working to complete some assignments at Lone Peak in order to receive credit. There will be no cap and gown, but there will be a great sigh of relief and a sense of accomplishment on all of our parts.

A few weeks ago, in meeting with one of Richard's counselors Dee was told, "just do it for him. He is so intelligent, he knows his stuff and he will be fine".  Dee offered to help Richard complete some pointless, tedious assignments that he had been putting off. Richard would have no part of that. "That would be lying Dad. I need to do it myself." Did I mention that I LOVE him?

So, while hundreds of young people are marching into the Marriot Center on Thursday in full ceremony, my son and I are going out for ice cream. We will come home and get back to work on the EHS classes. He will finish. He will go on and be a wonderful, good man.

Last Sunday Richard received his Seminary Recognition certificate for completing four years of LDS Seminary. I cried through the whole evening. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of my son and his love of the Gospel of Christ and his love of the Church. This certificate is very important to me. I wanted to take a picture of him as he shook the Stake President's hand. It was the nearest thing I'd get to a graduation photo but can you do that in the chapel? I resisted. This is what we got instead...

I love you Buddy!