I got a letter in the mail. The opening paragraph read, "Congratulations! You are the parent of a District Five Section 12.A Area-all-State Orchestra Participant." (Try saying that five times fast). I'm also the parent of an All-State Choir Participant of the same district and section, a Wendy's Heisman Athlete Award Nominee, and a DAR Young Citizen Award Nominee.
This is all new territory, this land of Senior Teas and Senior Award Ceremonies.
Our oldest son just submitted his "exclusive early decision" application to his #1 choice college. Being savvy, he applied to two other schools before he hit the submit button on the exclusive early decision. Some colleges have offered to waive his application fee so he has applied and applied..."Why not?!"
He submitted his NCAA application and football recruitment questionnaire at the very last minute. He wants to play football in college...and then he doesn't.
I was annoyed when this almost-eighteen-year old spent the day at our pastor's house when he should have been working on his #1 college choice application essay. It took all of my strength to step back from personally editing his essays when I thought they could be more well organized.
He spent the entire past weekend performing in the pit orchestra for a show. Then he topped it off with a late-night cast party. I thought he should have been resting and doing homework.
We're on the prowl for scholarships. And he just added started piano lessons to his schedule (great, another recital).
I keep telling myself that every parent of a teenager-athlete-musician heading to college is going through something similar...the tension that exists during the child's "getting ready to blast off" stage of life.
I'm hungry for some good advice from a wise parent who has lived through this stage. At the minimum, I could really use some stress relief.
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