Coming Into His Own

This year my son will graduate from high school and prepare for college. While my family has been excited about this year I can’t say that my son has been equally as happy. In speaking with some of his friends several of them are sharing this moment as not being very celebratory. It had even gotten to the point that when I would mention graduation and college around them it was like I had said the worst possible thing to them.

So for weeks, months, I just held off. I didn’t really mention college unless he did. I realized that my son had to come into his own happiness about his accomplishments and the ACL tear really!!! didn’t help matters at all. So now, not only is he not looking forward to graduating but he is also unable to play basketball during his senior year.

To stay on course, I did stay true to my mommy roles; “What are your grades in Anatomy?” “How is Tale of Two Cities going?” or “Maybe you should slow down before you wear yourself out.” Very early one morning I was up of the FAFSA website, you know doing what parents do? Yeah, even filling out the entire form and accidently deleting it. All of it!! Now if Alex wanted to talk about graduation and college I had my answers prepared, ready and waiting.

My son has been raised in a single parent home. He has supportive grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, coaches and teachers. Yet, I can sense that he is feeling some emptiness. As if he is saying, It’s my last year of high school, I’m just getting off the injured list, I’m looking at colleges and yet there is a void that only God can fill.

Today was very interesting. Alex went to pick up his class ring. It was a huge responsibility in itself just getting there but he accomplished it with ease. When he called me and told me that he had the ring, he was excited. Whew!! We talked while he was on his way back home and I heard the voice of a young man who despite some personal setbacks was becoming the man that God has called him to be. I felt in that phone call that Alex’s senior year had finally started.

As we go forth to the ending of his senior year I think back on the day that I discovered that I was pregnant with him. I remember saying that no matter the gender of my child I was going to name him/her a form of the name Alex because I knew that he/she would be great. If I knew nothing else, I knew great things were in store for him. We have experienced great things and we know that the best is yet to come.