Sunrise, Sunset

Thursday is J.P.'s last day at University School Nashville, his home for the past seven years.  Predictably, I have mixed emotions.

I remember - like yesterday - the Friday morning Jude and I lay in bed made the final decision that J.P. would to to USN rather than the Oak Hill School.  Dear Juliet Douglas, USN's admission director and public ambassador, sent the sweetest e-mail to us after she arrived at school that Friday morning and learned that J.P. would be starting at USN in the fall.  

It was the right decision for J.P. at the time, I think, and I'm glad it's the decision we made.  And now he's moving on to MBA for seventh grade this fall. 

In seven seemingly short years, J.P. has gone from Jude or me dropping him off at school, for kindergarten, to walking home from school himself every afternoon.  It's crazy but I blinked my eyes and my little boy was a young man.  I guess I'll blink again and he'll be leaving for college.  

J.P. has had a good run at USN, although I don't think he leaves with a best friend, or a group of really close friends.  I wonder, sometimes, if that's part of why he chose to go to Montgomery Bell Academy.  He has friends at USN, a lot of them, but I don't know how many of them he has a lot in common with.  J.P. is not one to play video games like Fortnight or Call of Duty because we don't let him.  He's also not one to play fantasy card games like Magic:  The Gathering, Pokemon, etc.  Sports is what he loves and, frankly, there aren't a lot of boys at USN that share his love of sports or that play sports like he does.

Many, if not most, of his baseball teammates - the boys I've coached for so many years - are at MBA or David Lipscomb.  Private schools with boys that maybe, just maybe, have a little more in common with J.P.  Boys that are academically inclined and, yet, want to play sports and compete athletically, too.  

J.P. has excelled at USN, always.  He's done well academically.  We've never heard a criticism of him at a parent teacher conference.  Other than a playground scrap or two in the early years with one of his friends from Children's House, he's never really had any problems in school.  The teachers and staff have been so supportive of him, especially after my my mom died and it was obvious to them that he was sad.  They have nurtured him and provided him a safe and loving environment to begin to discover who he is, and that's been invaluable to him, and to us.  

Sometimes, I think, J.P. has been a bit of a big fish in a small pond at USN.  He's going to be challenged at MBA, academically and socially, and he realizes that.  At least I hope he does.  As I hear it from his friends and baseball teammates who are current in seventh great at MBA, there's a bit of a dog eat dog mentality there.  Some of that is endemic to the age group, I think, and it was that way for me at Northside Junior High School when I started seventh grade in the fall of 1978.  I survived, flourished even, and I hope he will, too.

I've always thought real growth happens when you get out of your comfort zone.  When you're challenged.  That's true for teenagers, like J.P., and for adults, as well. 

I think - I know, actually - that J.P. was comfortable at USN, and we were, too.  Maybe too comfortable.  He could have stayed at USN, worked relatively hard, but kind of treaded water and maintained, academically, athletically, and socially.  I'm not sure, though, how prepared he would have been for college and life after college, had he stayed in the protective cocoon he had established at USN for the the next six years.  

I could be wrong but I think MBA is going to present him with an opportunity to rise up, to grow intellectually and emotionally, to forge new relationships.  I want J.P. to gain confidence in himself and his ability to connect with others in any and all settings.  That's something he needs to work on and, I hope, an area that MBA will help him with.  

So, it's time too say goodbye to beginning of school popsicle parties, nature journeys, the relatively short-lived FBC soccer club, friendships (Cecil, JD, Calhoun, Henry, etc.), the Turkey Trot, and walking home from school.

I hope this is the right decision for J.P.  Time will tell but I'm excited for him to give it a shot.  I'll be forever grateful to USN for seven years J.P. spent there.