Summerville Journal Scene ®
My “baby” turned 18 this week.
I guess that means he is no longer a baby, but to me he will always be that.
We’ve attended many events recently as he winds up his high school career.
During the band banquet, I watched with pride as he received award after award, including another college scholarship to add to his others.
But the thing that warmed my heart the most was seeing how the younger students he has mentored and tutored respect and love him in return.
He has spent many mornings going to school at 7 a.m. to give private lessons to struggling students.
He has been first chair in symphonic band for four years.
He has been section leader in marching band year after year.
During the school awards ceremony, we watched with pride as he received many awards, the most appropriate being the school spirit award and the “Joy of Learning” Scholarship.
We watched with pride as he crossed the stage at graduation to receive his diploma, graduating summa cum laude. And I only cried a little.
We attended his Furman University band concert this week, where he nailed his jazz band and wind symphony solos.
As I sat at all these events, beaming with pride at the wonderful young man he has become, my mind wandered back to many events throughout his 18 years.
I thought back to how sick he was his first five years of life.
How we struggled through the croup; bronchitis; pneumonia; a Rhoda-virus that had him hospitalized at seven months; and allergies so severe that he was severely underweight for many, many years.
How during all of that, he never complained. My husband once said to me that he could not imagine being as sick as our baby was, but he was amazed that he was always happy despite it.
My baby loves sports; he loves music; and he excels at academics.
He is an excellent baseball player, the fastest runner and consistently one of the top goal scorers on his soccer team, an avid golf player having played for Aiken High for four years; and an excellent alto saxophone player.
He made the decision to continue past his third year of German his sophomore year because he enjoyed it so much, despite the fact that it was bringing his GPA down slightly.
We discussed it together and decided that if he enjoyed the class, there were many things more important than a GPA and being well rounded was one of those things.
He has never regretted that decision and it eventually led him to Germany and France last year as part of a German exchange program. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that saw his German speaking skills improve and resulted in many stories to tell for many years.
He struggled to decide which college to attend, having to choose between three wonderful colleges and many scholarship offers.
He was awarded the highest saxophone scholarship ever awarded by Furman University, and despite that, decided not to attend because in this year when scholarship money was a little harder to come by, he didn’t want us to pay the still significant gap between the scholarships and total tuition at a private college.
He will attend USC in the fall and has been awarded both music and academic scholarships to attend as a music education major.
He is excited about being part of the marching band program and attending football games and performing in the fall.
He selflessly has lived without seeing his mom during the week for the past two years, enabling me to take this job in Summerville, knowing that I would be there for every important event and I was only a phone call away. But we all know that is not the same as having your mom there, and for that, I am eternally grateful to him.
Through all these years, his enthusiasm for life and everything he does has never waned.
I am proud to know him and to call him my son.
I know that whatever he does, he will do with gusto.
To tell you what kind of young man he is: a band mom came up to me at the banquet and told me that Greg will always have a special place in her heart.
Three years ago when the band went to an eatery after a football game, as they did every week, her eighth grade daughter and her friend waited too late to call for their ride.
They were left by themselves, alone outside the restaurant.
They were frightened.
That was when my baby saw them and drove back around and insisted they wait in his car for their ride to arrive.
She said most kids his age would have driven off and left them there, but not Greg.
He truly has one of the most caring hearts I have ever known.
He skipped the terrible twos, was no problem growing up, has had no teenage angst, just true goodness.
I love you, baby. Drive, determination, and a good attitude will take you where you want to go in life, and you are on your way.
This is my tribute to my son and all the wonderful students moving past their high school careers and the parents who are beaming with pride and with tears in their eyes as they watch them go.
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Sounds like a GREAT KID. You should be proud, but not brag about it! "Pride Cometh Before the Fall"....
Posted by: The Commercial Critic
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