Newbie on Board

Today I spoke with a single mother whose only child wants to go to Boarding School. I was given her name by my co-worker. I was surprised at my eagerness to speak with her so I dialed the number without any agenda, just the desire to share my thoughts and impart my boarding school wisdom on this newbie. I felt prepared to answer almost any question presented and felt that my personal experience was all she needed to hear to make her feel better.

There is a funny thing that happens to people who share similar events. Things that seemed large and obscure now appear to have definition and can be described in ways that only the person who the same exact personal event can only understand.

I listened to Karen tell me how remarkable her daughter was doing in her current school and her involvement in community events and the strides she was taking to ensure her success not just now, but for her future. She explained how she wanted her daughter to go to boarding school but struggled with the idea of having her leave home. Familiar pangs began to unsettle in my heart for her. Her words were familiar and I sat quiet reminded of what I convinced myself of three years ago. In order to have extraordinary children you have to present them with extraordinary opportunities.

Karen was standing at alarming precipice she had never considered. She asked herself the same questions I had asked myself. AM I CRAZY!!!  She is my only child, how can I possible let her go? Alone in the world to fend for herself, without me she cried.  I listen to Karen lament about the tuition which for a single mother is an exorbitant amount of money. Hell, it’s an exorbitant amount of money for my wife and I. Especially now that my wife has lost her job. But that’s another story.  

Karen wasn’t looking for advice. She was searching for someone who had gone through what she was about to go through. She was searching for someone to tell the where the landmines were placed. To show her how to navigate the ship she already knew had left the port in her daughters head. There was not turning back, there was no convincing her that there were other schools.  Attending Boarding School I now believe is a calling, a vocation to commit to a new way of life that demands the best from you. Those who hear the calling and accept the challenge are ready to be transformed into the person they want and are meant to become in the world. They may not get exactly everything, but they are at least willing to try.

I will remind Karen in our future conversation, and I am sure there will be plenty, that her child is special. That she made a conscious choice to do something different and that it was her child’s spirit that is leading her in the direction she is meant to go.  Her job, like mine, and as I have mentioned numerous times before, is to be the guide and the constant in her life.