I was mooching candy in our counseling office today when a bubbly girl came up to me and said, in a most cheerful manner, "Are you Mr. RightOnTheLeftCoast?" I replied that I was, and she said, "Tom wants you to write him." She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and gave it to me; on it was written Private Tom P's address in basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
I think he was a freshman when I had him for math. Later he was taken out of our school and attended the Marine Military Academy, returning to finish high school with us. He made sure to let me know last year when he enlisted, and wore his Army t-shirts to school with pride after that. He graduated in June.
It was a treat to watch him grow up, and it's nice to know that he'd like a letter. Readers here know that I'll send him a chest-puffing, motivational letter telling him how proud I am of his achievements, decisions, and maturity.
Guess I'll get working on that, right after I tell Today at School, Story #2.
2 comments:
I really liked this story. I know you must be proud to have been a part of his life.
My nephew is finally back in the US from Iraq. He's still fulfilling his commitment to Uncle Sam, but he's doing it in AK. He'll be back home next month.
A few years ago, we had a ninth grader who was making every wrong choice he could-our freshman team tried everything we could think of to reach him. He enrolled in our JROTC the next year and turned his life around.
He visits from time to time, wearing his MARINE uniform, and I swear part of it is to see me break out in tears-EVERY time- can't help myself. I'm so proud of him and what he has done with his life, and he has a future. God bless the men and women who bring
ROTC to our schools!
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