Skip to main content

Another High School Graduation

Our fourth son, Lincoln, graduated from high school last week.  He had a lot of good friends there and did well in his classes, but despite that, he didn't really enjoy his experience.  I quote from his Facebook status, "Every time I remember that I never have to go back to high school again, I get all giddy inside."  I asked him why and he said it was partly because he had to take all these classes and teachers he didn't want to take.  He didn't respect some of the teachers and he hated those classes.  There were several that he did respect though:  the chemistry teacher, the math teacher, the English teacher.  I'm really grateful for good teachers that put forth a lot of effort.
 

Lincoln is in the middle.  The friend in the purple shirt moved to a different high school a year or two ago but supported his friends by coming to their graduation.

 I'm grateful that Lincoln finished high school despite his frustration with the institution.  I could wish for a more positive educational experience but there is a lot to be said for finishing something that you really don't enjoy.  Life is full of things that you just have to grind through.




In any case, I'm sure he'll enjoy college a lot more.  Before he goes to college, he is serving a mission for our church.  He got his call just last week.  He'll be serving in the Canada Edmonton mission speaking Mandarin Chinese.  He has already started studying Chinese.  He leaves in less than 2 months and we are going to miss him a lot!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy.  Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all.  She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate.  Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in.  Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios.  She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities.  One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not.  Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable.  Wha...

Hansen Family Plot in the Provo Cemetery

On Memorial Day this year, our family went to the Provo Cemetery, as we do almost every year. We spent some time at the Hansen Family plot which contains the grave of my 2nd great-grandparents, Peter and Mary Hansen. They both emigrated from Denmark with their spouses to Utah. My grandfather lost his first wife Ane to cholera on the plains outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, along with three of his little boys within a very short time--about one month. It's a sad story but it's also one of admirable resilience. He brought his one surviving son, Jorgen, to Utah. He married his second wife Maren (Anglicized to Mary) some 9 years later in Utah  She had been married before but lost her first husband at an unknown date. I wish I knew more about her but she left very few records, although I could do more research! Peter and Maren had 6 more children together. The youngest two were twins, Enoch and Ephraim. Ephraim is my great-grandfather and is buried in California. He is the father of ...