Back to School

Yesterday our family reached another milestone. Our youngest son, Andrew, went off for his last first day of school for the rest of his life. And that means Phyllis and I experienced our last first day of school. I know, he is going off to college next year, but that doesn't count. College is elective, grades 1 through 12 are mandatory. College is an experience where your son or daughter don't have parents to wake them up in the morning, make sure they are dressed for the weather, etc. If he or she can't make it on their own with these basics in college, then there is a real problem somewhere. As per ususal, the Lower Moreland School Districe computer program messed up his schedule. Phyllis put in a note of encouragement in his lunch bag, nagged him about what he needed to do, etc.
Later this week we will have our last Back to School night. We have never missed one for any of our kids in any grade. When we had more than one in the same school, we practiced divide and conquer. Funny thing is, the parents who really need to be there because they are lousy parents, who have lousy kids, aren't the ones present. But at this point, I don't care because I am about to experience my last one.
God has been very good to us. All of our children were born healthy, they have all accepted Christ as their savior, they are leading productive, meaningful lives. We have a lot to be thankful for, and we want to give Him the glory, because all three have been prayed for endlessly. We have been spared many of the parenting nightmares I have had in my counseling office (they are far from perfect kids, and we have been far from perfect parents, ohh to be able to wind back the clock and do somethings differently).
And so I will go through this week with a sense of gratitude, relief, accomplishment, and while I miss many aspects of when they were little ones, I can't wait to see how God leads them in their early adult years. We need to keep hanging on as the ride continues!
Blessings,
Dr. Paul