Sunday, September 9, 2012

Nervous Children

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth I spent countless hours in the car driving the roads of Georgia to towns like Waycross, Valdosta, Columbus, Brunswick and other small towns with emergening problems. I was the outside expert from Savannah where'd made significant dents in our "social problems." Over the years I made lots of frieds and have fond memories of those days. Later the scope of my travels encompassed the nation so I flew everywhere and no longer drove to the small towns and cities of Georgia or South Carolina. So yesterday as Sarah and I made our way across Highway 82 into the western part of the state many memories came flooding back. Nothing seems to have changed and I took that as a metaphor for the way that Governments and Churches do things in Georgia. "What are we going to see?" Sarah asked at one point. "Abosulutely nothing," I answered. But the truth is that we are. My brilliiant daughter-in-law Marie is a professor at Valdosta State University. She has a rich history in the movie industry, having worked on several and has now pinned her first play! It's already been performed in three different cities and is now being staged at the college where she works! The local newspaper wrote a terrific story on her effort and she was the guest celebrity on radio shows yesterday. She is nervous about her work being showed to her peers and is planning on Bloody Marys prior to the performace. Sarah and I are exited to see her play and be there with her for the experience. It's funny. You never really know how your kids are going to turn out. You think you do but you don't. I thought Jeremy was going to be the world's first professional football player who was also a brain sugeon! Then he and Marie got married and he's settled on getting his Ph.D. in Sports Management. Kristen has stayed closer to home on Tybee Island while Chelsea graduated from the University of Georgia only to now reside on the Georgia Tech campus (irony of ironies). It's all good. I've been extremely blessed because my kids are all doing well but doubly blessed because we all like and enjoy each other. We laugh a lot when we're together which is increasingly rare. So today is a special day! We get to spend some time with my brilliant daughter-in-law and as she gets to strut her stuff! I couldn't be prouder.