Parents discuss graduation - part 2 - the graduation ceremonies

DW: By the oddities of calendars, Hyrum graduated with an Associates degree in Arts and in Sciences before he got his high school diploma on May 23. He managed both with a 4.0. For pictures of his Ranger graduation, see here.

Driving to his Ranger graduation was an adventure. Both Waze and Google Maps did not know where Ranger College's auditorium is! We ended up behind their football stadium and on a dirt road or two before we finally found it.

Joy: I really loved the talk given by their returning graduate, but Hyrum thought it was too long. That graduation was the first Real feelings for me, that this is really happening and he is really becoming an adult ... and probably my first feelings of him really leaving. Like, it all felt more real with the graduation ceremony. And when they awarded the diplomas and they say, "We now proclaim you" whatever, I was really proud of all the high school students who did this. What an amazing accomplishment! I was glad he was able to sit with friends on the stand because they had few enough graduates they could all sit on the stage. (Only graduates from the high schools and certifications were at that particular graduation.)

DW: It was a pleasant ceremony. It was packed. I wish we could have sat closer so my camera could get a GOOD picture. Thankfully, a friend at work had a better seat and she got shots of Hyrum by her boy.

Joy: His high school graduation was memorable because he was valedictorian, but I really felt the Solemnity of his Ranger graduation, the feeling that My Boy is an adult and I should treat him like one.

DW: My parents came out for Hyrum's high school graduation, which we really appreciate. It was in the brand spanking new stadium, christened for the event. I was surprised fewer people mentioned that fact.

Joy: The whole city came! It was insane! They only ran out of pamphlets/programs two hours before it started!

[Left: Hyrum is the tall fellow ont he right.]

DW: We got up to the second story on the far side of the field, and could see the procession leaving the junior high across the street to prepare for the march across the new football field. You could hear the clanking of all the medals the lead students were wearing. In our last post, I showed Hyrum's many medals. He chose to only wear three for the graduation in his customary modesty - one for tennis, one for UIL, and Valedictorian.

The salutatorian gave a good speech about all their graduating class had been through, reviewing the past.

Joy: I appreciated the details she gave about the class as a whole.

DW: Here is his introduction:

DW: Then Hyrum stood and spoke of the future, which you can also hear at the earlier post. It was a spectacular thing, seeing him there at the very front of the graduates in the first chair.

Joy: He saw us and waved when he marched in. That was nice.

DW: I was touched that he not only mentioned his parents, but called us by name. He didn't have to.

Joy: We were definitely stars in his show.

Parents discuss graduations - part 1 - the road to graduation

DW: We alsways knew that Hyrum was very good at math. He finished algebra in 6th grade.  Sometime around 2019, we were discussing and debating how we were going to keep up with his voracious mathematical ability and his schooling in other ways. One issue was that he just wasn't challenged. He was getting 100 on absolutely everything they handed him and he was bored.

One day, I felt a prompting from the Spirit that we needed to have him skip a grade so that he could be about his life's work sooner. Normally skipping a grade would have happened some years ago already. But now was the time. So we started gearing up to figure out how to help him get through 6th, 7th, and 8th grade in 1.5 years.

Joy: I did leg-work with schools, talking about what they would require for him to skip a grade. They mostly said, "He can't." I said, "Okay, if he did x, would be qualified for the next grade," making scenarios until I figured out exactly what they needed to have happen, because they weren't willing to consider it.

I worked with Hyrum to help him test out of some classes through UT-Austin.

DW: I remember writing homework and tests for him for 7th grade history.

Freshman Hyrum,
Sep 2021

Joy: And we did a lot of practice STAAR science and STAAR algebra tests at home.

DW: And then COVID hit, just after his birthday. He has often said that one of his birthday presents - over spring break, just as lockdown started - was not needing to return to school that year.

Joy: I don't think he appreicated that birthday present. He didn't want to do school online at any moment in all of his life.

DW: But given that strong push, we enrolled him in a public online school for 7th/8th grade. They worked with us to identify what classes he had already finished thanks to his UT-Austin tests, and he took half-7th grade and half-8th grade classes that year 2020/2021. Full credit to Hyrum particularly for one of his science classes that he did almost exclusively through YouTube videos from Texas middle school teachers! And he used that to pass the STAAR science test. By the end of May 2021, we all were able to convince Stephenville that he had passed all the 8th grade STAAR tests and was ready for high school a year early.

Hyrum's biggest concern was that he would be a year younger and a year smaller than the boys in sports, and that would hurt his sports abilities. It likely did make some difference, but given that he has always been tall for his age, the difference wasn't as bad as it could have been. He was in soccer for a year and then switched to tennis where the team was more supportive and he had more of a chance to succeed.

That time he scored a soccer goal and 
his team made a bridge to cheer for him

Sophomore tennis

One of Hyrum's choices and personality traits that I admire is that in the last four years, I have not heard him speak ill of anyone. He made friends in both the grade he left and the grade he entered, and he kept both ties up. He did occasionally tell us stories about what happened that day that had us raising our eyebrows, but no matter what anyone did to him, he called them friends and would help them and do all he could on their behalf. His willingness to forgive is impressive.

Hyrum discusses graduation and goals

Hi there. Hy here.

Dad: Tell us about graduation.

Hy: In the weeks leading up to graduation, people kept asking me, "Is your speech ready yet? What's it about? Are you going to use brain rot?" And all I had was, "no. I will not." Eventually I did get it written and I was mainly focusing on the future and encouraging people to be grateful for the circumstances that come up in their lives, no matter how good or bad they are.

(Dad: Here is a compressed version of his speech.)

Dad: Years ago you decided you wanted to be valedictorian. I'm pretty sure that while Mom and I didn't tell you not to, we weren't overly encouraging. I kept trying to convince you that 93% is an A and that's good enough. You went on to get valedictorian and a double associates degree anyway. Tell us about your dream.

Hy: At the end of first semester freshman year, that was when we would get our grades and ranks for the first time. I was like, "Hm, maybe I might be number one, but I don't know everyone in our class." I saw my rank, and it was #2. And I said, "Hey, maybe I have a chance!" So that became my goal, and I tried to make my grades so I could get the #1 spot.

Dad: What was the hardest part?

Hy: It was definitely junior year when I was taking AP chemistry and AP calculus, cause those are the two hardest classes in our school. I was up late doing homework most nights. But that year was also the year when I had the best grades and gave me a big boost in the race.

Dad: What was the best part?

Hy: In the week before graduation and after, just knowing I had accomplished something really great and folks were cheering me on. 

Dad: The glow of victory. What did you like about your Ranger graduation?

Hy: The cookies at the end. *lol*

Dad: Those were good. [Pictures below the fold are from his Ranger graduation]

Prince Hyrum, the Superstar gets ready to graduate

In May Hyrum graduated from Stephenville High School as the Valedictorian, and also from Ranger College with two Associates degrees in Arts and Sciences. In preparation for that, we took a lot of pictures of him looking awesome for his graduation announcement. Here are some.

A little teary today

 Why am I a little teary today?

• A series of stressful dreams for the last two weeks. 
• I woke up filled with a lot of fibromyalgia pain. Took a long time to get moving.
• I had a long conversation with a ward member about her family, wishing there were only something I could do.
• Another ward member suffering and feeling powerless to help
• Thankful for a couple brethren who told me about the service they were giving
• I bore my testimony in church about how our Heavenly Father communicates His love for each of us.
• 
  Took a lovely walk on a surprisingly hot day with Joy and Prince. We talked about Prince becoming an adult. Sometimes these days, it's all I can do not to just stare and stare at this nearly-grown young man. I am amazed at who he is becoming. I think of how dearly I'm going to miss him while he is at BYU. (As Emily says in Our Town, "Let's really look at one another! It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another.") 
• We haven't really shared this publicly yet, but someone in our home is going to need an urgent surgery on the near side. I spent the day fasting and praying about that.
• I didn't take a nap.
• 
  I worked on a new puzzle for a while and made great progress. (What does that have to do with feeling teary?) Well, I like puzzles because it feels like I'm taking chaos and putting it into a beautiful order, bit by bit. And I tend to want to work on them most when I'm feeling like I don't have control of things.
• We played Great Dalmuti, and all five of us enjoyed it! Helping everyone enjoy the same activity feels like a real accomplishment some days.
• As we read D&C 58, God tells His Saints that after the tribulations come the blessings. A child wanted to know why they had to do chores in this house, as if that were a tribulation and when exactly do the blessings come? I was likely too intense in my answer, and I feel bad about that.
• I'm reading these wonderful old blogs about Princess learning to say words and Prince discovering math for himself at age 4 ... before going off to BYU as a math major.

So, dear diary, that's why I'm feeling a little teary today, like, all day.

Return of the Blogger?

 Some time ago, all the backup copies of our family pictures failed. Computers and external hard drives all. I only have a very few of them saved on my work computer, and really only since, like, 2022.

I finally realized that not all was lost. I had this blog and our old one. And we have saved pictures! I shared pictures and wonderulf, wonderful stories. Over the last month I've gone from 2008 or so up through 2012, saving every single picture I uploaded and reliving all those early glory days of baby/toddler Prince and baby Princess. (Baby J-T had not yet arrived, much to his dismay when I start sharing stories).

How very deeply thankful I am for this old blog, for our Newlywed History, for Facebook, and for the scattered physical journals I and we have kept over the last 20 years of our marriage.

... and maybe I should try to get back to This Old Blog too.

Christmas trip to Disneyland, 2024
Joy, Princess, JT, Derrill, Prince

A new game for long drives

We have a card game that we revised the rules for. Each card has a character, a place, an event, or some other element of a fairy tale story. In our version of the game, you are dealt a random hand of 4-7 cards depending on the age of the person and a "they lived happily ever after card" that gives them a goal. The person's job is to come up with a story using all those cards to reach that ending.

I modified that game further. Instead of using the cards at all or generic fairy tale inhabitants, I made a list of characters from fictional works we five Watsons know, a place, and a mission. With only those few elements, we come up with a story.

On a recent long drive, we told the tale of:

• How Legolas and Christoff escaped from the Hundred Acre Wood
• How Sir Robin the not-quite-as-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot and Jiminy Cricket escorted a princess from Uluru to the Sydney Opera House. (It involved a lot of running away!)
• How Princess Buttercup and Bashful the Dwarf stopped the evil wizard of Motunui.
• How Molly Weasley met up with her old flame, Jafar, at WalMart one day and they forgave each other for the misunderstandings and heartbreak that marked their time at Hogwarts (before Molly met Arthur, obviously).

My favorite was Superstar's insightful tale of how Mother Gothel and the young Tom Riddle traveled to the year 2323 to obtain a powerful device that would grant them immortality. They only found one seed that could grow the medicial herb that would cure any ailment, including old age. So Gothel betrayed Tom and sent him back to the orphanage, escaping with the golden seed. And it is because of this story that Tom Riddle was so obsessed with avoiding death and becoming immortal himself, setting him up to become You-Know-Who!

Judging from the kids' reactions, this new one is a harder game, but they enjoy the stories we do come up with more.

My random number generator tells me the next stories will somehow involve Abu the monkey and George Jetson finding a lost dog (Astro?) in Paris, France. We may also learn about how Grand Moff Tarkin and Aragorn sail to the promised land (South Africa?)

We went to DisneyWorld in Feburary 2022 - a conversation

<Each paragraph begins with the name or letter of whoever says it. If there is no introductory letter, then it's me, Derrill>

My dad speaks at a regular pension conference in Orlando, Florida each February. That has become a convenient opportunity for him to take some or all of his family with for some Disney World fun. We hoped to go up in 2021, but couldn't for obvious reasons, but made it this year.

To prepare, we went back to the very beginning, Snow White, and watched all the animated Disney movies up to around the 1980s before the trip happened. This was a project we spent many months on because we watch movies so infrequently.

Joy: We also watched Youtube videos about some of the rides. The kids enjoyed that. They made a list of rides they wanted to go on at each park. We also prepared our Disney points

By spending money on our Disney credit card to get Disney dollars back

Joy: So we could spend them at the parks.

Since we had also managed a trip to DisneyLand in the summer of 21 when Aunt Virginia died, that also helped the kids, and JT especially, get ready for the larger park and get some of our favorites done in the same year at least. My brother's family joined us for the trip to Disneyland, but couldn't come for Disney World.

Superstar had been to Disneyworld and Disneyland as a toddler, but had no memory. Princess had also been to one but didn't remember. So these trips were the "first" times going to Disney for all the kids!

Pop, Emie with baby Lucy, Steve, Princess and A
JT, Grandma, Joy, Superstar, and Derrill

Codex Boturini as read by a Latter-day Saint

Back in the mid-1700s there was a fellow named Boturini who traveled through Central America gathering historical writings about the Aztecs and other native peoples. The Codex that bears his name depicts the story the Azteca/Mexica people told about where they came from and some of their history. Here is part of the first page:

First I'm going to quote the Wiki article on Codex Boturini, then I'm going to reread it the way it sounds to me.

The codex depicts the events of the Mexica migration from Aztlán and their history from the years 1168 to 1355 AD.^[3] It begins with a priest leading Chimalma, fabled ancestor of the Azteca, from Aztlán via a boat.^[18] Once they arrive at the shore, near Colhuacan, they build a sheltered altar for their god, Huitzilopochtli, who ordered this migration.^[19] There they also encounter eight tribes that desire to accompany the Azteca.^[20][d] The Azteca agree and the nine tribes set out under the leadership of the four god-bearers, Chimalma, Apanecatl, Cuauhcoatl, and Tezcacoatl, each carrying a tlaquimilolli.^[21]

Over folios 3 and 4, the Azteca are transformed into the Mexica when Huitzilopochtli chooses them to be his people and teaches them to sacrifice blood to him. He also instigates the split of the Mexica from the other eight tribes ... . An Aztec (left) carries out Huitzilopochtli's instruction to break from the other eight tribes in a nighttime discussion. ...

What I hear:

It begins with a priest named Lehi, traveling from Jerusalem via a boat [1st Nephi 2-17]. Once they arrive at the shore, they build an altar for their god, Jehovah, who ordered this migration [1st Nephi 18]. They also encounter other people who accompany them, under the leadership of his four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Lehites are transformed into Nephites when God chooses them to be his people and teaches them to sacrifice [animal] blood to him. He tells Nephi to split from the other tribes [before they kill him]. Nephi and the righteous flee in the nighttime [2nd Nephi 5].

For a mostly-oral tradition passed down over 1000 years until it's drawn up in the Codex, I find the parallels between the journeys more than coincidental. I found Boturini from reading Elder Moses Thatcher's pamphlet, Divine Origin of the Book of Mormon from the 1880s. 

The Articles of Food

(A parody of the "Articles of Faith" by Joseph Smith that the children and I worked on at the dinner table tonight.)

1. We believe in the use of forks, knives, spoons, cups, plates, tortilla shells, sandwich bread, and so forth.

2. We claim the privilege of eating healthy foods according to the dictates of our own tastes and allergies, and allow all our children the same privilege, let them avoid meat, dairy, or whatever else they will.

3. We believe that a man will suffer for his own poor eating choices and not for those of the person sitting next to him.

4. We believe that all mediocre food may be saved by application of the condiments and sauces of the kitchen.

5. We believe that the first condiments and sauces of the kitchen are: first, salt; second, Lawry's; third, immersion in ketchup; fourth, laying on of cheesy white sauce.

6. We believe in the literal gathering of ingredients.

7. We believe that a cake must be made by Mom by yumminess and by the laying on of ice cream.

8. We believe in being polite, chewing slowly, not talking with our mouth full, maintaining pleasant conversation, and in blessing the hands of the person who made the food; indeed we may say that we follow the recipes of Alton Brown: we eat all cuisines, we have learned many recipes and hope to be able to learn all the recipes; if there is anything yummy, healthy, of artistic presentation, or praiseworthy, we seek after these meals.

For the record, we do not believe in the same diet that existed in the pre-historic days, namely the Paleo Diet - in case anyone wondered. We also recognize that some of these things we believe in are aspirational in nature. :)