Conclusion: Heart, Humor & Optimism Revisted
H20 to Go! Growing Emotional Resilience and Navigating Through Childhood with Heart, Humor & Optimism BY Margo Judge Updated
2009 H20 to Go! Copyright, 2004
By Margo Judge All rights reserved.
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Installment #48 Senior Year-Destination Ahead
Senior Year is full of surprises and contradictions.
For one thing, we and our child are actually on the same page, going through the same push-pulls. We're ready and not
ready for them to leave home. They're extremely happy it's all over and not that happy about saying good-bye to all
that has meant familiarity.
Our seniors have spent their entire school life in familiar settings, knowing, in most
respects, what to expect. Even if they have had to relocate, switch schools, and make new friends,ninth grade still
remains the first start-to-get-serious high school year, tenth grade is about making serious intellectual inroads, eleventh
grade becomes the show and tell year, after which SAT's come calling,colleges need visiting, applications have to be filled
out, and essays written. By first semester of Senior Year, everyone is huffing and puffing up the same path, the way
now crowded with lots of signs and other fellow travelers
But, this final stretch will soon end, and everyone will
scatter in different directions.
While each may have chosen a favorite new path, right now most must sit by the side
of the road waiting to receive direction. Waiting is not easy. Having no control over this part of their destiny
becomes difficult for all involved. When acceptances to colleges come in, some will be unbelievably relieved and excited
to travel their chosen road. Others will be sadly disappointed and unsettled with their new given path. ALl will
experience the pangs of letting go and doubts over what lies beyond.
Senior year is upon us and it will seem long.
I found looking back that it became more a series of happenings, many humorous moments in time that when put together formed
a collage of common remembrances and universal truths.(I wrote about this in H20 Part 2)
The shaky feelings and
awkward balance we thought were behind them come out for one last brief encore. But, if our seniors can shake out their
angst now, before they settle into a new space, they will be just fine. So will we!
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