“I talked to Sandy Range, and she’s getting her travel department to arrange our flights. She has me booked in first class. Range is taking Mom’s first-class ticket and splitting it into three coach tickets. Mom has decided not to go on this shoot. She’s easing back into real estate and is basically starting over. She wants to focus on getting back into the groove.
“They were getting me a two-bedroom suite. Sandy said it’s only slightly more expensive for four regular hotel rooms. What do you guys want to do?”
“It might be nice to have your own room,” Harper suggested.
“I’m sure the suite would be nicer and we would have a place to talk and relax,” Missy countered.
“I’m not opposed to getting an extra hotel room or two, and getting the suite,” I offered.
“If you got a suite, and two extra rooms, everyone would have their own room. We’d have a nice meeting place as well,” Tami compromised.
“Okay, I’ll let Sandy know,” I said. “I’m also going to have security for you. Chuck can rent a car and take you wherever you need to go. That way I’m not worried about you, plus it saves me from spending money on a driver.”
“Harper and I have money. You don’t need to be doing all this,” Missy told me.
“I know, but I’d be doing it anyway if my mom was going,” I said, which seemed to appease her.
They finally called us to our table. We had a nice brunch. I got a text that my mom and Greg would be in town shortly, so we finished up and went to Tami’s dorm. When Greg pulled up, I had him pop the trunk. I had three canvas bags with the Union Jack on the side. I handed one to each one of them. It had tins of different teas, tea towels, a tea diffuser, a set of four china teacups, chocolates and different marmalades.
“Just a little something from my trip to England,” I told them.
“I love English tea,” Harper said, and she gave me a kiss.
“I’ve never had it, but I can’t wait to try it,” Missy said as she kissed me.
“Thank you. That was very thoughtful,” Tami said.
“Hang on, I have something more for you,” I told Tami as I pulled out a much bigger box, the silver tea set.
Mom was standing beside me, smiling. All three girls were opening boxes so they could examine everything.
“Mom picked it out for you,” I told Tami.
She hugged Mom and thanked her. The girls were busy planning to use the new tea set when we left.
ON THE RIDE HOME, MOM and Greg shared what they’d been doing at my grandma’s. Most of the big stuff had already been sold on Craigslist. Greg had helped her set up a PayPal account and the auctions were currently running on eBay for the smaller items. Mom and Greg had prepackaged everything. All Grandma would have to do is put the shipping labels on and put the receipt in the box.
When we left the Wesleyan campus, I sent Angie a text. Greg, Angie and I had planned a nice Mother’s Day late lunch for Mom. I’d shown Mom’s set of china to Angie, and she was setting it out on the dining room table as a surprise. Angie and Dad were making lunch.
When Mom walked in and saw everything, the look on her face told us we’d succeeded.
Saturday May 17
MY FINALS WERE OVER and we were officially out of school. I had maintained my straight ‘A’ average. They posted the top ten class standings. I was surprised to see where everyone fell. Alan, Jeff, Gina and I were the top four. At number seven was Lily, and number ten was Mike. So five of the top ten were in our program. Gina was an honorary member, so I guess that made six.
Alan sent out the emails showing the program’s averages for grades. Everyone was doing better academically than they had first semester on their own. Coach Hope said it was the accountability and the support that was making the difference.
Today was graduation. I watched as Greg, my friends and the rest of the seniors walked across the stage to get their diplomas. I gave my girls their tea sets as graduation gifts. Greg got one too because I wasn’t leaving Angie out. I also gave him a wallet with five hundred dollars in it so he could have extra cash for the wedding and their honeymoon. They’d decided to go to Chicago for a few days.
The seniors all got together and were having a party at Magic’s. It was a seniors-only affair, so I wasn’t invited. Cassidy and Jim were going out with Wolf and Diane, so I didn’t have date-night either since Eve had left for Nashville.
I received a text from Eve saying she was going to be staying there for a while. I read between the lines and knew that we had broken up, just nothing had been said. I had a feeling she was just the first of many that would be leaving me soon.
So that’s how I found myself sitting in my apartment, spending time with my best buddy, Kyle, on a Saturday night.
KYLE WAS TERRIBLE COMPANY because he fell asleep on me. It did give me time to reflect, though.
My life was so different than it had been a year ago. It was about this time when I’d been sent to my uncle’s farm for the summer. Who knew that one of the darkest chapters in my life could actually have been the catalyst for so many changes? He’d given me the tools I needed to be successful.
It all started with my positive attitude and accepting personal responsibility, normally not attributes of a teenager. Uncle John had finally made me see that my happiness was predicated on me, not anyone else. He’d told me that a lot of people never learned that lesson and they would always find excuses as to why things didn’t go their way. He even taught me a handy little phrase: ‘If it is to be, it is up to me.’
That didn’t mean that I always followed his advice. I was a teenager, after all.
Once he taught me that, he showed me how to achieve my dreams. He said it was all based on some techniques he learned in project management, one of his business courses in college. He applied them to creating life goals. At the time, it sounded like something that would go into one ear and out the other. What teenager wanted to think long-term? Wasn’t life all about living in the moment and what was in it for me? Apparently not.
I was receptive to my uncle because of how bad my life was at that time. I think I was looking for anything to make it better. What he showed me wasn’t some mystical cure-all, it was common sense, and the goals I made fit what I eventually saw my life being. They aligned with having a fulfilling life that I would be happy with.
What I found was that what my uncle taught me was empowering. With the right attitude, and a plan to accomplish it, things started to go my way. I think most of it was simply the confidence to do what I needed to and not be afraid of what people thought.
I had a long ways to go to achieve my ultimate goals. This coming summer would go a long way in setting that path. I couldn’t wait to get started.
Freshman Year: Summer
DESCRIPTION: Fourth book of A Stupid Boy Story series.
David’s got a busy summer planned, what with football camps, a ‘guys’ weekend’ with his family, modeling, and getting ready for his sophomore year of high school. What he doesn’t plan is conflict with his football coach and the new quarterback, nor women troubles, but he gets those as well.
Join David and his friends as they discover the joys of life while they are at that awkward stage between childhood and adulthood know as being teenagers.
Interlude
Mom
Cancer.
‘The Big C.’
No one wants to discuss it. It’s whispered and not talked about. Mother Nature can be a real bitch when she decides to eat your body from the inside out. I think the worst part isn’t what it did to me, but what it did to my family.