Graduation...and Emily Joy

"Students, it may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. You are like eggs at present. You cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. You must be hatched or go bad." C.S. Lewis/Adapted

Wow! It's been 14 long long years since I stepped onto a stage and made the long walk toward the rest of my life. When I started that long walk I was just a high school student full of plans & dreams. When my feet left that same stage only moments later...I was an adult...or so I thought.

What I really was, was a child in an almost adult body, with no idea what life was really all about. I cringe just thinking that in 7 short years Boston will be taking that same walk. Will I see him as the adult I thought I was? Or will I see him as my baby...pretending to be a grown-up? Will he step off that stage headed to the Marines like he plans? Will he be a career college student? Will he be a mama's boy that won't leave the nest? Will he even graduate? I don't know what the future holds for any of my boys, but I do know this...when the time comes I WILL NOT be ready for it.

14 years ago I had plans to become a CPA & marry my high school sweetheart. Three years later I was married to my sweetheart, but I was not a CPA and I was very unexpectedly about to be a mommy. Am I disappointed that I never finished college...not really, but I would like to some day. Do I wish I had waited till I was older to get married...not for a minute. Do I wish Boston had came a few years later...maybe a little.

I can tell you without a doubt, when I crossed that stage I could have never for a minute have imagined how my life would turn out. 3 boys...a husband in full time ministry...colon cancer. When I look back at the path that has led me to this place, I get a little dizzy. But you know, the truth is...good or bad...I don't know that I would change any of it. It's all part of what makes me who I am. And I like who I am.

In just a few short days, thousands of kids will take that same long walk, bound for the rest of their lives. Who will they be? What will they do? Will they make the world a better place than we did? I guess we will just have to set back and see.