Round two of BEDA is over. Unlike last time, I’m relieved. I just didn’t have the same spirit this time around. I was still in summer break at the beginning of August, so my schedule was all bananas. I had to race to finish most of my blogs in the last half hour of the day because I was out and about all morning and afternoon. Once school came, my schedule became even worse. I can’t stay up past midnight anymore, and I’m usually not finished with homework until ten. That leaves, once again, a half hour to compose a blog. Looking back, this month’s blogs are much better than I’ve given them credit for. Still, there are more throwaways than there should be. Plus, I haven’t returned a single comment in at least two weeks. I miss the usual ping-pong blog reading. I’ve been a taker and not a giver, and that makes me feel lousy.
Of course, I had a feeling that this month of daily blogging would not leave me feeling as great as April’s did. My first round of BEDA is my magnum opus. I was on fire. That kind of quality is hard to reproduce with only three months of rest in between. So, I’ll be going back to bi-weekly-ish blogging. For now. You can fully expect me to swing back into BEDA next April with all the energy needed to tackle this beast.
Thanks to everyone who has been here every day whether I acknowledged your presence or not. I acknowledged it in my head, if that counts for anything. Expect some comment spam now as I go back and read through all the blogs I missed.
…This may take awhile.
Even though I’m exhausted by college mail, the idea that the majority of the envelopes in our mailbox these days belong to me is a very exciting one. Fetching the mail has become a relaxing little ritual for me. I toss most of my letters into one of the many toppling piles of unread college ads I’ve collected since February, but sometimes I find a colorful little booklet full of pretty pictures and interesting numbers that catches my eye.
I didn’t receive any fun booklets today. But I did find a letter from my school addressed to my parents. It technically had my name on it, so I opened it.
“We’d like to extend our thanks to you for taking part in our annual Curriculum night.”
What? My parents didn’t go to curriculum night. I don’t even think they know it exists. And even though I wish they knew how my teachers looked (I know I like to visualize people when they turn up in conversation), I would never expect them to waste nearly two hours of their time going through all my classes in lightning speed. That’s just silly.
At least, that’s how I feel. Much to my surprise, a good chunk of my peers’ parents showed up. Is it really necessary to be that involved in your kid’s school life? Since my parents have never taken a particularly controlling hold of my academic career, I say no. I’ve never felt pressured by my parents to succeed. They’ve always trusted me to do what I need to do, whether it be studying for tests or talking to teachers about questionable grades. They actually tell me I could get Cs if I want to. Of course, getting a B is the end of the world by my own standards, so that’s never been a nugget of parental wisdom I’ve listened to.
I will be forever grateful to them for this. They’ve allowed me to sculpt my own high school experience. My classes, my activities, and my work have always been how I’ve wanted them to be. Occasionally they’ve offered their input, but my decision is always final. Of course, not everyone agrees with this style of parenting. I’ll never forget having my best friend’s mom lecture me on the importance of taking Spanish when I was first entering high school. “What college is going to take you without language credits?” she’d say. “And your mother is okay with this?” Yes, she is. She knows I love art, and she wants me to be happy. Truly happy. Not “you’ll thank me when you’re a multimillionaire at age forty” happy.
And guess what? Her strategy has worked out quite dandily. I eventually took French junior year anyway after hearing rave reviews about the teachers and finding out Painting II is only a semester class. I’m somewhere in the top 1-ish% of my class and I’ve never dropped out of the honors/AP track of any core subject. I may not be going to Harvard, but I think I’ll at least avoid spending my life tossing the day-old salad at Cici’s for a living.
So thanks for not caring, Mom and Pop. You guys are the tops.
