I spent last evening in the auditorium of West High School for the Senior Honors Ceremony. I am proud to say my son Cody was a participant in the ceremony, as he was awarded a large scholarship from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). Cody will be attending MSOE in the Fall and initially chose the Software Engineering path, but has recently changed his major to Bio-Molecular Engineering, a relatively new program. MSOE is one of the first colleges in the nation to offer this program. Cody is not only blessed with extremely high intelligence, but also self discipline, and motivation. He is one of those kids who can "correct" his parents, and then also follow it up with intelligent reasoning that often leaves me speechless. Cody applied to MSOE in September and when his acceptance letter arrived, it included the scholarship award letter, something he had not even applied for. I am so proud of my son, I sat in the audience with tears in my eyes. Yet it is also bittersweet because though I am proud of him, I also know this means he will be leaving me and our home to go forward with his future. There is a commercial on TV where a father is giving his daughter the keys to the car and she is sitting in the car, and when they show how he sees her, she still looks about five years old. That is how I always see all of my children, so even though he looks like a grown man, to me he will always be the little boy with frosting all over his face from his birthday cake and a contagious childlike laugh that could put a smile on my face, no matter how bad my day was.
However, the Honors Ceremony was about more than just my own son. And it touched me in many ways, some of them not even relating to my son. To see so many seniors at West High School that have worked so hard in their education, community, and despite obstacles many of them may face (much of it financial), they have found success. From the Associate Principal who told his own story of being a discouraged senior, to joining the military which helped him pay for college and eventually earn his Master's Degree, to those student who in high school have already joined the Army Reserves, standing on stage in uniform, it was genuinely inspirational. The community members who presented local scholarships also had stories to tell which brought tears to my eyes. A mother whose son was a West High School Graduate, who joined the military and lost his life in Iraq, told her son's story and what led their family to create a memorial scholarship in his name. There was so much heart in that room last night, but also pride, and tears, a lot of tears. I wish all of the seniors up on the stage last night much success in life, and I am excited to see where their path in life will take them.
One of the students spoke at the beginning of the ceremony about "the best four years of your life", which is how we as adults often look back at high school. Yet he made it a point to remind the class that there have been lows as well as highs, the good part is that as time passes you forget the difficult times and hang onto those shining moments. I think in LIFE we all tend to do that. Every moment from the past seems greater than it might have actually been. But isn't that the beauty in life? We can only see how good it was when we step away from it, not in the actual moment.
As the ceremony concluded, and we got up from our chairs and waited for Cody, I looked up on the stage and saw him shaking the hands of his fellow honorees, taking extra time to talk to those who will be or already are serving in the military. Such a gracious and kind young man he has become, taking the time to also "honor" his fellow honorees. I wiped away my tears and felt like the luckiest mom in the room.
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