If you measure a work day by hours, I am half way through my work day already. I find myself thinking back to this time last year. In May of last year, things started to reopen. I referred to the era in my blog as a Break in the Clouds. I initially felt excited about being able to again dine out, but the restrictions and masks made it all seem out of sorts. I spent a great deal of time wondering what the upcoming school year would bring the boys.
Now, Texas is fully reopened. I am still home more often than not, but things feel normal when we do go places. I have all the answers to my many questions of what the 2020-21 school year would bring the boys as the school year ended yesterday, and it is the first day of summer vacation.
The 2020-21 school year started late. The district’s initial plan was to start everyone virtually. After evaluation of this plan, the school leaders made a huge decision. They decided to delay the start of the school year, and allow children that chose to the opportunity to return to the classroom. As I look back on it all, I am beyond grateful for this decision.
The first day of school pictures are a beloved tradition by many. As the pictures started to roll on to Facebooks as children from different parts of the country got to return to school, my heart grew hopeful. Then it was our turn. Those pictures will forever remind us of all the chaos of 2020. As most children are wearing masks in these pictures.
Little Chirp started junior high and officially became a teenager. He fit right in. His goal was all A’s and to make the basketball team. He crushed it in school with an unweighted GPA of 97%. His academic success includes a 100 in Algebra the second semester, which is his first high school course.
He did in fact make the basketball team. He loved being on the team. He had a major set back when he broke his wrist in the third game of the season. He is now fully healed and committed to his basketball game to the point that he has played in the rain the past few days as it has been raining here for weeks.
His goals for eighth grade are again to make all A’s and to make the basketball team. I feel that these are solid goals. We are spending a good part of our summer free time at the gym. He plays pick up games of basketball, and I lift weights. This is part of our Little Chirp and me activities as we prepare for Brainy Bird to head off to college.
Brainy Bird got to have a true senior year, despite the pandemic. The year got off to a shaky start. The SAT was repeatedly cancelled. The start of the year was delayed, and homecoming was cancelled. Their senior sunrise was blocked by a cloud filled morning. At the time, this felt like a sign of what was to come.
The high school has a tradition of senior sunrise and senior sunset. At the start of their senior year, they all meet up outside to watch the sunrise, marking the start of their last year of high school. Then on the last day of school, they again meet up outside, but this time they meet in the evening and they watch the sunset on their high school days.
The cloudy sunrise was not an indicator of what was to come. The kids got to return to the classroom, and we did not have another shutdown, which we deeply feared. The college application process was more competitive than it has ever been in our nation’s history, but the kids all found their way.
Brainy Bird’s senior was filled with college applications, scholarship essays, interviews, and a mountain of school work. He tackled it all. By the end of 2020, the University of South Carolina was Brainy Bird’s top choice. There was an incredible week where Brainy Bird had finally got to take his SAT, and he found out he got the perfect math score that he was aiming for. That same week, he found out about his acceptance to the South Carolina Honors College, and he was a finalist for the Roe Stamps scholarship at Missouri. He rode into the Christmas holidays on an incredibly high note.
For Christmas, I gave him my airline and hotel points to go and visit any college in the nation. This was my way of confirming Brainy Bird’s top choice. Without hesitation, he chose the University of South Carolina. This gave him the opportunity to go to college out of state, and to be a part of the nation’s best honors college at a public university. The honors program is incredible at the University of South Carolina.
We scheduled the trip to visit South Carolina for the weekend after his 18th birthday. The day before his 18th birthday will forever be one of the most exciting days of his life. He got word that he was selected as a Top Scholar at the University of South Carolina. This is a huge honor, and it comes with a great deal of perks, including a mentor and substantial scholarship. This also meant we got to participate in the Top Scholars weekend a few weekends later. From the Top Scholars weekend, Brainy Bird was chosen for the top award, the Roe Stamps scholarship.
Upon official receipt of his Roe Stamps scholarship, I got the privilege of sitting next to him while he enrolled in college. From there, we got to relax and enjoy the rest of his senior year. I could see the stress of the college application process lifted off of him. He went on to crush it in school the rest of the semester.
He also jumped in and enjoyed all of his senior activities. Prom was a huge hit, and he went with the most amazing group of kids. A close friend of ours decorated their home, and hosted the prom dinner. The kids very much enjoyed it. Soon after, he took his last five AP exams. He then had his senior awards ceremony, senior sunset, and senior picnic. I love seeing him happy.
It is now almost 8 AM the first day of summer vacation. I am the only member of the Storey family that is awake. The boys are both in their beds having stayed up late. Brainy Bird went to a graduation party for the class’ valedictorian, and Little Chirp stayed up and played video games. Pumpkine is asleep on the chair next to me. Storme and Potatoe are snuggled up together on the couch, and Trooper is in his basket. This is the perfect beginning to what will be an eventful summer.
I am grateful that our lives are beginning to return to normal. I am deeply grateful for my boys and the school year that they have had. I am proud of the seniors of Tomball Memorial High. It was a privilege to see them honored at the senior awards ceremony.
I am in a really good place right now. I wake up happy, and I fall asleep happy. This is a place that I have not been since the start of the pandemic. I will never forget how filled with worry and uncertainty I was through out 2020.
Tomorrow, we have our last high school activity – graduation! Graduation will be followed by a summer to remember. Stay tuned!