Answered Prayers

Every now and then, you have one of Those Days.

One of those days where everything falls into place...and you know that all of the struggle and the drama that has brought you to this day -- was worth it. It may not have been fun walking through it, but it sure is nice to see the other side.

Today was That Day for me.

The Bigg

BigBro kept his promise and met me at school this morning. I kicked out my extra-early-arrival student so I could talk to BigBro without an audience. (Experience has taught me that my boys are infinitely more receptive when there are no extra ears around.)

Given the fact I had minimal time before our first class, I skipped the preliminary steps of the strategy I outlined last night and went straight for the BlatantHonesty big gun. Although I didn't read last night's post to him verbatim, I did hit the high points.

I spent a considerable amount of time on the fact that I knew I was asking him to sell himself out just a little bit....and I wished I didn't have to, but I couldn't see any way around it. Not if I wanted what was ultimately the best for him -- to get his credits so he could graduate. I told him I was very proud of him for exhibiting the restraint that he did....the old Biggy would have blown his top far quicker and with far more collateral damage. The old Biggy WOULD have ended up in the Alternative High School....on the express train. THIS Biggy managed to keep his mouth shut long enough to avoid getting immediately shipped off. All we needed to do was make it through his "sentence"...boring though it would be...and then we could get on with the rest of the semester.

In order to help the time go a little faster while he was incarcerated....I would send a couple of my young adult novels with him, and write up that his "assignment" for my class was to read them, in their entirety. That way he would have a free pass for reading, which he loves to do, and get the time to fly by. He still wasn't jazzed about the 3-day idea...but the "reading assignment" idea made him grin just a little bit. (Cuz we'd be pulling one over on "The Man"....he'd get to have FUN while he was selling a little corner of his soul.)

He went into my storage room to get a handful of peppermints while I found the book he was reading last class. While he was in there, he decided to ditch his hoodie so he didn't have to carry it around with him.

When he came out, I got my first real look at his costume for the day.

He was wearing a pair of Dickie's coveralls. In khaki.

His response to my questionface?

"Well, Miss...I figured if I was going to jail, I should dress the part."

I couldn't help it, I laughed so hard that I cried!! The little punk KNEW when he got dressed this morning that he was going to give me what I wanted....and he made me work for it, anyway!!

The Bugg

Buggy called me on his way to gymnastics this afternoon. He asked me if I could get him the Financial Aid application and an application to an area university. (Did you hear me, my people?!?! University. NOT the technical school he was talking about a couple weeks ago. WOOOOT!!!)

What brought this about, you ask?

Apparently Buggy got hauled in to see the truancy officer today. (I TOLD him to get his mom to call and clear his Marine-induced absences from AUGUST.) While he was in there, she started talking to him about Life After High School. He told her he wanted to go to college, but needed to find scholarships, because he didn't want to take out loans. She told him about a program at an area university that'll give kids from low-income families a full ride. (Ahem: that would be Buggy.)

In case I ever doubted that the universe has a sense of humor....the following convinced me:

Buggy....the child who has been avoiding the "Buggy's College Application" file, which has been located in my filedrawer since OCTOBER ....and who is also the child who ONLY took the ACT & SAT because I threatened to do him bodily injury....said to me, in his superseriousvoice:

"Miss, can you check on those papers right away? I need to get my applications in by April...I gotta get this done. Don't forget, Miss. This is important. We don't have any time to waste."

Holy cannoli, Captain Obvious...where's your cape?
Never mind....lucky for you... your trusty sidekick is here to save the day.

~hasta