Where we are today.

I thought it might be time for an update on where we are in our journey. It’s been about a year and a half since I’ve written anything regarding our present day life with Ryan. This pandemic has wreaked havoc on all of us in all kinds of ways – physically, mentally, educationally, socially, etc.

Since I last wrote about “present” day, Ryan finished both his first and second year of college. He physically returned to school last September and lived in the dorms. Although most of his classes were online, he was able to successfully manage academically with the help from his school coach, academic advisors and tutors. He changed his major to one that suited him better academically and personally , and one in which he would be able to have more in person learning.

I am proud of Ryan for his resilience and his refusal to give up. School is already difficult, but online learning has been an extra challenge, (even for typical students). Patience, humor and stick- to- it – ness , has been the glue that has held it all together for him. He has risen to the challenge. It was definitely not all a bed of roses, as there were missteps along the way, but I am truly amazed at his fortitude.

This year, as he begins a new year, he will be living off campus with a roommate. Classes will be mostly online in the first 3 weeks of school due to the overwhelming delta variant in the area where Ryan’s school is. Not something we wanted or anticipated, but again, he will get through it. We are all very much looking forward to getting back to a more “normal” college experience. (Not just for Ryan, but for all students)

So Ryan – this is for you: Enjoy your year, keep your head up, keep at it, your dad and I, your family, and your friends are all proud of you. We love you!

Good Timber

by: Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees,

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men, good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.