From Generation to Generation

How sweet it is! When children and grandchildren excel, that is! Our sweet Rachel had advanced to the state championship runs. And in scarcely a month from joining the team! Only 12, she was going on her first overnight school trip for the important event some 5 hours away. Nervous, but eagerly anticipating, our granddaughter tried to get some sleep bunking with teammates the night before.

“Mama, I want to come home,” her mother heard over the phone. “My stomach hurts,” her little girl whimpered. After reassuring words, Tums, pep talks and much tossing and turning, morning came and there was nothing for it but to toe the mark. On the track, Rachel’s confidence came back, and she helped lead her team to victory. They took first among 20 schools and Rachel received her first medal! We are all so proud of her!

Another granddaughter, Michaela, was chosen to go to a leadership conference in Indianapolis, far from her home in Eastern Tennessee. Home schooled and sheltered for most of her life, she had only recently begun public high school, but her traits of industry, conscientiousness, and excellence had brought her good will and recognition from her teachers.

“Mama, this is better than church camp,” the teenager exclaimed to her mother over the phone. Our daughter, Julie, had been more nervous than Michaela about letting her go on such a long trip. “My group is all Christian, and we are having so much fun!” The orderly, well-planned seminars and workshops, for which the students wore the required black skirts and white shirts, resonated with her personality and raised her awareness of a larger, important world out there where she could be involved and make a difference. She came home bubbling with excitement.

Last night I had the pleasure of reading some of my son’s first book! How rewarding to hear his heart coming through the varied scenarios and plots he has devised in this literary work called Parables. Jamie’s travels, education and experience have come together, enriching his words and the reader’s world by seeing through his eyes. A gifted student of life, our son writes in genres of poetry, science fiction, romance and mystery through complexities made simple and entertaining, and always uplifting. No wonder I’m on a high!