It is just past ten in the evening, and I am not sure how I am still awake. I am at a hotel two blocks down from Brainy Bird’s new apartment. He begins his junior year at the University of South Carolina next week. Meanwhile, back in Tomball, Texas Little Chirp’s sophomore year of high school kicked off on Tuesday.
The milestone school year will see Brainy Bird’s 21st birthday, and Little Chirp’s 16th, which means becoming a licensed driver in the great state of Texas. I am looking forward to the kickoff of college football season, Little Chirp’s homecoming, the cool fall weather, and hopefully a special family vacation in December. I am looking forward to every minute of the upcoming year. I am loving life.
I think back to this time three years ago, and the darkness that the cloud of uncertainty casted over our lives. We were in the middle of the pandemic. I wondered if the boys would be able to return to classroom learning, or if school would just open and then close again. I wondered if and where Brainy Bird would go to college. I wondered if I would keep my job. Job? When did I go from having a career to a job that I was just desperate to keep?
When did I stop dreaming? When did I lose hope on every front? I am not exactly sure when I fell victim to the hopeless mindset that our liberal disaster of a media projected, but I know this was right about the time that Brainy Bird began to dream his own dreams.
Fast forward three years. Brainy Bird now attends college debt free on a full academic merit scholarship. His grades are outstanding. He set out to major in computer science; he is now on track to get a degree in both computer science and math. He spent his first summer after college interning on a commodity trading floor. He just finished his second summer after his sophomore year of college interning as a programmer for a commodity trading consulting firm. His future is beyond what he can envision right now, and he dreams big.
Little Chirp is holding his own, ranked second in a class of more than 800 students. He has all advanced courses this school year, including two sciences, pre-calculus, engineering, and computer science. He also has Brainy Bird’s all-time favorite teacher for computer science. I am excited for Little Chirp.
We have our lives back. The lives that the pandemic disrupted and in too many cases stole. I am incredibly excited and grateful for the days to come. I look forward to the simple aspects of life, like the cooler weather, watching football with my love, sipping coffee on the back porch, long runs, happy hour on a patio with my friends, and time with the fur kids. I look forward to the big aspects of life, like Brainy Bird’s 21st birthday, and Little Chirp getting his driver’s license. This is a big year for our little family, and I will be thankful for every minute of it.
Back to school 2023! We got this!