Does anyone remember back when Bret was in South Mesa, or Pleasant View, or Parkhill, or the place on the highway, and he could not bring home a grade over an F-? I used to threaten, take away video games, bribe, beg, plead for him to just bring home any grade over a D-? I finally gave up in utter frustration and let him drop out of school at the age of 16. I knew a losing battle when I had fought it for all those years.
Remember how I fought the battle of growing pot in his room? I would rip them up and he would grow more. I finally resigned to the fact that I was a failure as a mother and prayed for the day he would run away. And it finally came. He got his growers license and I then began to tell people that he was not a "stoner" but was indeed a Horticulturist. In motherhood we need to pick our battles and look at life from whatever angle makes these little turds we call our children appear to be actually functioning adults.
So, he grew to adulthood, took a mate and moved out. There is indeed a God! And then they had a baby. You must realize that Kenneth and I had adopted him when we were ready to retire, which puts a whole new spin on "new mother." At an age when I should have been playing Bingo and eating at the SRDA, I was attending PTA and teachers conferences. So at the advanced age of 73 I became a grandmother. To put this in perspective, I now had a grandson who was younger then my youngest great grand child. But all this is not relevant to my this morning blog or rant, whichever you choose to call it.
The point here is I had raised a kid who did not have an education and seemed doomed to a life of menial labor. I wanted him to get his GED at the very least, but that entailed study, which by now I knew was never going to happen. And then one day he walked into PCC and came out with his GED and it had very high scores. That almost gave me a stroke! Try to remember, I am very old, and not used to much good in my life!
Now comes the best part. This same little tyrant is in the same job for over a year now. Hell it might be two years, because when you are over the hill, you pick up speed and my days, months and years are not nearly as long as they were when I was in my 20's. So here is the situation as it now stands. He started school at PCC at some point and has already gotten his welding certificate. He is now going for his structural welding and working on some sort of degree. He works a full 40 hours a week and goes to school 25 hours a week, and still maintains a home with a wife and son, but here is the best part...He is on the Presidents list at school, which I am assuming is equivalent to the Deans List and has received a letter congratulating him for this feat. He maintains a 4.0 GPA and I am wondering just what they have done with my little boy I raised.
So here is what I have come up with for explanation to this phenomena. Some kids learn differently. Some take knowledge from books. Some from the teacher. Some from life. Maybe some are not ready to start school at the age of 4 or 5, but rather in their teens. Maybe I did a better job of raising him then I thought I did. I do know that I look at him a whole lot differently then we he was getting stoned out behind the garage. I have never smoked the stuff and have no intentions of doing so, but he does furnish me with weed so I can make salve and lotion for my poor old aching back and sometimes I share with my friends.
So as I gaze out across my desk and out the window, I just gotta' say God gives us a big basket and sometimes we do not know what to do with the stuff in it, but it all works out in the end now, doesn't it?
Remember how I fought the battle of growing pot in his room? I would rip them up and he would grow more. I finally resigned to the fact that I was a failure as a mother and prayed for the day he would run away. And it finally came. He got his growers license and I then began to tell people that he was not a "stoner" but was indeed a Horticulturist. In motherhood we need to pick our battles and look at life from whatever angle makes these little turds we call our children appear to be actually functioning adults.
So, he grew to adulthood, took a mate and moved out. There is indeed a God! And then they had a baby. You must realize that Kenneth and I had adopted him when we were ready to retire, which puts a whole new spin on "new mother." At an age when I should have been playing Bingo and eating at the SRDA, I was attending PTA and teachers conferences. So at the advanced age of 73 I became a grandmother. To put this in perspective, I now had a grandson who was younger then my youngest great grand child. But all this is not relevant to my this morning blog or rant, whichever you choose to call it.
The point here is I had raised a kid who did not have an education and seemed doomed to a life of menial labor. I wanted him to get his GED at the very least, but that entailed study, which by now I knew was never going to happen. And then one day he walked into PCC and came out with his GED and it had very high scores. That almost gave me a stroke! Try to remember, I am very old, and not used to much good in my life!
Now comes the best part. This same little tyrant is in the same job for over a year now. Hell it might be two years, because when you are over the hill, you pick up speed and my days, months and years are not nearly as long as they were when I was in my 20's. So here is the situation as it now stands. He started school at PCC at some point and has already gotten his welding certificate. He is now going for his structural welding and working on some sort of degree. He works a full 40 hours a week and goes to school 25 hours a week, and still maintains a home with a wife and son, but here is the best part...He is on the Presidents list at school, which I am assuming is equivalent to the Deans List and has received a letter congratulating him for this feat. He maintains a 4.0 GPA and I am wondering just what they have done with my little boy I raised.
So here is what I have come up with for explanation to this phenomena. Some kids learn differently. Some take knowledge from books. Some from the teacher. Some from life. Maybe some are not ready to start school at the age of 4 or 5, but rather in their teens. Maybe I did a better job of raising him then I thought I did. I do know that I look at him a whole lot differently then we he was getting stoned out behind the garage. I have never smoked the stuff and have no intentions of doing so, but he does furnish me with weed so I can make salve and lotion for my poor old aching back and sometimes I share with my friends.
So as I gaze out across my desk and out the window, I just gotta' say God gives us a big basket and sometimes we do not know what to do with the stuff in it, but it all works out in the end now, doesn't it?
Baby, Grandma Lou, and Bret (left to right.)
