40 Reflections – #14: 40 days of raw recollections during the Lenten Season
Strolling into our daughter’s high school tonight, I chatted with another mom about the academic recognition event we were to attend. Neither of us knew any details, but we both agreed it was another feather in our children’s H.S. hats, boosting their list of activities on college applications…someday. (Who knows if they even need all the plumes of a peacock anyway?) Like most moms of ninth graders, we walk the high school path blindly. Reminding each other of forms, fees, and deadlines,Leaning on each other when tears are shed, all the while being told by “upperclassmen” moms to BEWARE because four years goes REALLY fast. These are the same moms who 10 years ago rolled their baskets (‘buggy’ in the south) by me and the kids in stores:
- Noting how I “REALLY had my hands full”;
(Not true, never carried all 3 kids at once)
- wondering how I did it;
(Probably did it, and am still doing it all wrong)
- and firmly stating: “enjoy it NOW, because it goes by SO FAST!
(half-truth: loud crying slows things down, but everything else races by)
As the event began, students with a 3.75 Grade Point Average (GPA), or higher, were inducted into the academic club. Of course today’s GPA’s are super-sized – climbing up to 5.0 in some areas, compared to the 4.0 of the past. It was a brief ceremony with a strong message from the teacher sponsoring the club. She shared a quote from a math professor from Young Harris College in Georgia:
“Fight the ghost of mediocrity”
I immediately wrote down these words and reflected for a moment. Peering around the auditorium at all the students, I marveled at the hours they had invested in their studies, the projects they designed, Power Point Presentations they clicked their way through, and hours of sleep they lost worrying about tests, grades, and GPA’s. Cycling between school, sports, instruments, and friends, can be hard to revel when kids are trying to become the well-rounded young adults we’ve tried (sometimes with too much vigor) to mold.
As parents or children, we all feel pressure. We strive to find balance, and pray we will have someone there to catch us when we stumble and fall, ultimately helping us transcend mediocrity. Embrace each other, time does fly.
**At best, this post is mediocre, but I’ll embrace that too.
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