samgamgee

the past week or so has been full. mostly in the celebration of the jedster’s graduation and his stepping of as a soon to be u.s. marine. we’ve packed a lot in these final days. a great open house for family and friends. the jedster actually getting his driver’s license. of course it took two attempts and because he was heading off to boot camp they gave him a waiver to take the test again the next day. so during the twenty four hours between the tests we spent a few hours working on the whole turning thing. seems he made his turns to wide for the likes of the examiner. he had the road driving down, but those turns take a little more finesse. it caused me some pause to think through how to teach the proper way. driving becomes quickly a second nature almost involuntary process that i had to force myself to watch how i turned corners so i could relay the process. it makes sense why they require minors some 50 hours of driving to get the license. but he got it. last night he drove me to mansfield to do some shopping. we took our urban assualt mancar (gmc suburban) for the ride. he did well.

i’ve been thinking a lot about how we’ve raise our children. and in both cases the two grads decided to step off in amazing ways. the oldest lived abroad as a rotary exchange student in the paris region of france. she left the august before her sr. year and stayed abroad until the following july. the son steps off in just a few short days to boot camp for 13 weeks and then home and then back at it, with an enlistment of four years.

it was real delight to see various friends and classmates stop by and wish him the best as he makes this next step. i know he was moved by the whole thing, but he kept his cool. i was blessed as good friends who we don’t see regularly made a trek to our home to offer words of encouragement and congratulations. melinda did an amazing job of pulling the meal together. the menu included pulled pork, wings, ribs and some beef. those that came blessed us with great treats too. we’ve got several more things planned as a family before we take him to the processing station and then see him off. we’d welcome your prayers of protection and blessing on him as he moves forward (and for us at home to move to a new place in our relationship ourselves.

thanks.