What a difference a year makes....

First day of school for Meghan, my high school sophomore.

Looking back a year, she was leaving here for her first day of high school with a knot in her stomach, fear in her eyes and as close to tears as a kid could get. The whole can-I-find-my-locker, and then realizing once-I-find-it-can-I-open-it???? Couple that with the three day volleyball tryouts that was putting yourself way out there and I had a kid who was a train wreck. So much to go wrong, and any one of those things could make the wheels fall off the day. She survived, made the team, made the grade, made some friends, made some good decisions and made us proud.

by

Patti Dickinson

Today I sent a kid to school who is confident (the irony is that she got the exact same locker and combination that she had last year!!!) She is meeting her friends at her locker, who all have Honor's biology together. She knows her way around the building and knows a little bit better who she is, where she fits and what new leaps she's going to take this year.

This year the volleyball tryouts are less stressful than they were last year. Last year the dialogue was "if I make the team...." and this year it's "what team I make...." And closing in on six feet (she will only admit to 5'10") doesn't hurt in that middle hitter position!

I love these teen years. They aren't for the faint of heart....but it is terrific to see a kid negotiating life with a primitive map. And the important part is that the moral compass is pointing due north.