Perfect Moment Monday: Graded
For this week’s Perfect Moment Monday, I reach back half a lifetime ago to June 1993.
Up until the second semester of my junior year of high school, I’d been a so-so student. While I made the lowest echelon honor roll with a decent GPA every semester, there was so much untapped potential. I would rather do my homework while watching television than really concentrate on anything fully and it showed in homework and test scores. There were plenty of arguments in the house about my lack of interest.
That second semester, everything was different. I enjoyed almost all of my classes and as I finished up exams a day early, I felt confident that my grades would be better than usual.
And then in a few instants, that day that my junior year wrapped up, everything changed. My father experienced a heart attack that evening, followed by quadruple bypass surgery nearly a week later.
I had nearly forgotten about school by that point, but when my mother and I returned home from the hospital after a long day of waiting until he was out of surgery, the mail was there. My grades were there. And they turned out to be the best of my high school career.
I absolutely could not wait to tell my father the next day, now that he would be awake, and not hooked up to a ventilator and all those tubes and wires like he had been immediately after surgery. I don’t remember if he was coherent the next day, but I do seem to remember a smile that warmed my own heart.
Posted on February 22, 2010, in Family, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
It’s interesting how things get intertwined in our lives. You had a more heads-down junior year, which culminated in a scary incident with your father. And then you got good news, which you were able to share with your father. And the ability to share it with him was the most excellent news!
BTW, I think you are a very good writer. I’m sure your dad is very proud of all your endeavors.
I am visiting from Lori’s Weebles Wobblog Perfect Moment Monday post.
I loved the story about your junior year. So many dynamics were going on…and for you to remember them and see how they were all happening at the same time, playing into what made up your life…now THAT’S perfect!
Thanks for sharing your Perfect Moment!
What a nice story! Thanks for sharing that special moment from your past. Isn’t it funny how sometimes things just happen at the exact right time?