Brian is incredibly smart. But Brian and school go together like oil and water...they can be in the same place, and you can stir them up so they are together, but they really don't mix. Brian is the kind of person who lives to learn, wants to learn, desires to learn...he just doesn't want to do it in a rigid school setting. It has been three years since he graduated from high school, and while he has passing grades from college classes he doesn't have any classes that really go together to make up the beginnings of any degree. Now he has made the decision to not return to college this fall. I can't say that I am not disappointed, because in a way I am. Not because he won't be graduating from college someday, but because I feel that everyone is now looking at my son and judging him...and that makes me sad. As I said, Brian is incredibly smart...so everyone assumes he should go to college and become something wonderful and have a great job. Why does he have to go to college for that? Just because he is a "drop-out", a "quitter", a "loser" doesn't make him any less of the person he always was. It just makes me sad that people think those things of him. I truly expect Brian to go on in his life and make wonderful things happen in the world...a college degree won't make a difference with his determination and stubbornness. It bothers me that I feel as if I have to defend his decision to not continue with college...but as he said, why keep taking student loans to do something he doesn't want to do? Brian is 21 years old, an adult in both chronological and mental age, so he has the right to make decisions for his own life. As long as he is happy, can support himself and calls his mom once in awhile that is all that matters to me. For those of you who think less of him because he chooses not to finish college I ask you to please keep those opinions to yourselves...I am sure everyone has made some decisions in their own lives that may have been questionable at the time. Just because he is stopping his "formal" education doesn't mean he will never go back to college and it certainly doesn't mean he will stop learning...that just isn't who Brian is.
April 25, 2010
So I blogged about what a great day Kayla had on Saturday and apparently that means I ignored all the great things Becky did! So here goes...
Kayla wondered why I hadn't blogged about her day yesterday...so here goes!
She went to the Class 1A music contest in Ruthven with seven entries. Two were vocal and five were band. Her first vocal was a duet with Jacob (boyfriend) and they ended up with a II, but were one point from a I. The second vocal was a group of girls, 12 total, singing two songs, they got a I rating. But the big events of the day were of course the band entries. She had solos with her Bb clarinet, bass clarinet and trombone and a mixed woodwind duet and a clarinet trio. All three of her solos and the trio got I ratings and the duet got a II rating.
By the time she was in the same room, with the same judge, for the third time, with her trombone he questioned her if there were triplets of her or just her :) The judge was very complimentary to her performances...said her bass clarinet solo was a very difficult one and she did a great job. He also complimented her on her trombone solo and seemed surprised that she had only been playing it for two years. When she came in for her last performance of the day, the trio, he teased her about coming again and bringing friends.
To say she was freaked out before her performances would be mild...she was so nervous and worried...but just like I knew she would, she did great. Not surprisingly, her headaches have mostly disappeared after yesterday's stress. I am going to miss these days of music after she graduates...after all, between the three kids I have been watching for 7 years!
Some people hate tattoos. They link them with low-life people who are dirty druggies. They see them on prisoners or think they are only for sailors. Other people love tattoos. They have their arms full of them (sleeves) or they are all over their bodies. I personally am on the fence. I think some tattoos are beautifully done and art. Others are gruesome and go too far. I personally think having them all over your body is too much, but a few here and there I am fine with. Kayla's band teacher has 8 tattoos, but you can only see one small music note on her hand and one small tattoo behind her ear. She is a great teacher, a respected individual in the community and she has tattoos. Ink on your skin does not make you a bad person.
If there is one thing that I really, really dislike it is a "kiss-up". The kind of person/people who tell someone what they want to hear, stroke their ego, just generally make a fool of themselves. "You are the smartest person I know" "Wow, you do that better than anyone else" "You could never make a mistake" Makes me want to gag...
In honor of Becky's 19th birthday today, I am going to list 19 words to describe her...
1. Beautiful (inside and out)
2. Outgoing
3. Charming
4. Smart
5. Vibrant
6. Funny
7. Generous
8. Kind
9. Friendly
10. Looney
11. Adventurous
12. Giving
13. Humble
14. Self-confident
15. Mature
16. Polite
17. Loveable
18. Crazy (in a good way)
19. Grown-up
Where did the time go? Nineteen years of Becky...what an adventure it has been :)
Lately Kayla has been having a lot of trouble with headaches. Constant, daily, almost debilitating headaches. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with stress migraines. Hard to believe a high school kid should have that much stress, but let me share her schedule for the month of April.
The previous Josephson generations were an interesting bunch. Rather than take broken down, rusted things to the dump or to be recycled they buried them. Therefore, in my yard, deep down under the grass, or in some cases not so deep are:
An old green DeSoto car (belonged to Dan's great-uncle Earl)
Parts of corn pickers
Parts of a pull-type combine
Cellar filled up with tin cans and junk and part of a house (we have a small hill in the backyard where it is all buried)
Various farm junk accumulated through the years-rocks, fence wire, glass bottles, tin cans...
Of course before anything was buried all the good stuff was taken off of it. The sprockets and chains and anything usable.
My favorite thing is the car. They buried it because years ago the junk dealers wouldn't take cars. If you wanted to get rid of it you had to cut it into pieces that were no more than 18" x 36" and it took more money to cut the stuff up than you would get in payment. But the best thing of the car is that there is a small hole in my yard where you can look down and see part of the car! It is like a little buried treasure, a little surprise, a fun story. This Josephson generation hasn't buried anything, and Dan assures me there are no bodies out there...but if holes suddenly appear in our yard don't ask too many questions.
