He's All Grown Up

My little brother is not so little anymore. Reaching nearly 5'10 at age 14, he now towers over me and beats me at races to the park and races to the other side of the swimming pool. He scarfs down a spaghetti meal before I finish my salad, and he loves Chinese food more than anything. Not only that, he can read a book in a day that takes me over a month to finish. I can't believe Michael is going to High School this Fall.


Last week was Michael's 8th grade graduation at St. John Catholic school. Our family decided to place him in a private school because we felt he would do better in an environment with smaller class sizes and more one on one attention with the faculty. We are so glad we made this decision.

During the graduation ceremony, Michael had a monologue he shared that made my Mom so incredibly proud. From each confident glance up to the audience to every perfectly enunciated word, my Mom was gleaming with a look that only said, "Wow, that's my son!" As the reception followed, the faculty put together a slide show that included photos of the students when they were babies, toddlers, and now young adults. It's amazing, really, how fast these kids have grown, blossomed and matured. The slide show was so touching and pretty much left everyone in the room tearing up. My mom and I had enough tears coming out of our eyes to donate to the Valdosta water treatment plant. 

The best part of Michael being a part of St. John school would probably be the friendships he had made.  Surprisingly, in the entire 8th grade, there were only 20 students.  Even more surprising is that 16 of them were girls leaving just Michael and three others the only guys in the entire 8th grade.  Needless to say, those guys were able to develop a lot of bonding since the girls all thought they had cooties and stayed away.

Next year, he'll be going to Valdosta High School where my two sisters and I have gone many years ago.  A lot has changed since we were there, though.  I heard they have a new Freshmen Academy that helps the freshmen get acquainted to high school life.  They have their own wing that is totally separated from the rest of the high schoolers.  Wow, back in the day, we freshmen had to take harassment from the upperclassmen and get stuff into lockers.  jk.  That never happened to me.  

After the reception, my mother and I thanked Michael's teachers for teaching him valuable lessons and helping him get through classes.  Almost all of them noted Michael's charm and sense of humor, which made me think...  Michael has developed a pretty thick skin to be able to still carry on a sense of humor after so much nagging from his mom and three older sisters every single day.  

I'm so thankful to have him as my younger brother.  He's brought the entire family a lot of joy and laughter, and we are so very proud of him.  I have no doubt that he will enjoy High School. 

Alice:  "All he has to do is stick with a lot of sports"

Emily:  "NO!!!  Put him in debate camp!!"

Mom:   "No!  Put him at Garden Villas!"

Dad:  "No, lah.  He can come with me to work."

I think Michael will figure out what he wants to do. =D