Commencement

Justin graduated from Kindergarten last week, which turned out to be more of a momentous occasion than I anticipated.  When Venesa first pitched the idea of a kindergarten graduation, I made it clear that I thought it was pretty silly.  I thought of it as just another way that society has conditioned us to celebrate mediocrity and borderline accomplishments... kind of like the whole "everyone gets a trophy" little league philosophy.  My thinking was, let's celebrate when he has really done something... But with a "sure, why not" approach, we went forward with the graduation plans anyway; and a funny thing happened along the way.  Once the moment came and it was time to zip up the graduation robe and send him on his way, I got filled with pride just like every other parent.  Suddenly, the other side of the argument was clear to me:  He did deserve his moment.  For over a year, he had lulled us to sleep with his intelligence and his diligence with learning.  Lesson after lesson, he excelled and (without realizing it) our high expectations became the norm.  No more, wow he can read!... no more kudos for adding four digit numbers in his head.  No pat on the back for solving logic puzzles and converting ounces to pints.  Instead, it was always off to the next task and skill, and we spent more time discussing his deficiencies (like why his penmanship wasn't up to par with his spelling) than his accomplishments.

But then graduation came.   And my focus changed.  It's like a veil was lifted.  Suddenly I was reminded of his love for learning.  I saw his character and the extent that he had matured over the past 9 months or so.  I saw the fun we had as a family getting him to where he is today.  I was reminded of his love for reading and the number of grade levels he has probably skipped in his ability to read and comprehend.  I flashed back to the consistent model that he's been to his sisters in both his level of integrity and his academic pursuits. I saw him reading to his sisters at bedtime.  I remembered his love for the bible and the countless hours he had spent reading his kids' bible on his own.  I remembered the dozens of verses he had committed to memory, and how inquisitive he is with his pursuit of holiness.  And above all, I saw his smile.  That absolutely brilliant smile that lights up our whole house... each and every day.  I saw his uniqueness. And I saw his development into a kid that was ready to sprout wings and take on first grade like a champion... all to fulfill his dream of being (drumroll, please) a waiter.  Yep... a waiter... because, according to Justin, they don't seem like they have to work too hard; so that seems like a pretty ideal occupation.  So yeah, we're still kind of working on that spirit of laziness... but even with that, I had to admit: We have a lot to celebrate.

Congratulations, Justin.