Insanely Jealous, Yet Ridiculously Proud

Last week I talked to my oldest brother, Walter, for a bit. I haven’t talked to Walter in awhile, and normally conversations with him are very on the surface. We don’t talk too much about the intricacies of our lives, and we don’t know much about what goes on day to day in each other’s lives because we talk so infrequently.

But on Friday we talked for a good 15 minutes, a record, and the conversation left me grinning ear to ear. Walter has 3 kids: a pair of boy-girl twins that are 11, and a daughter who just turned 9 last month. The twins started at a new school, a magnet school that is located about 30-40 minutes away from their town. The new school has had a very positive impact on my nephew, Robby. He hated going to school, refused to crack open a book and couldn’t get up out of bed in the mornings because he dreaded school so much.

This year is different. The bus picks up the twins at 6 AM, and Robby cannot seem to stay in bed at 5 when his alarm goes off. He leaps out and is ready to take on his day. Walter also reported that Robby can’t seem to put books down either. His approach to school has been the exact opposite of last year. He looks forward to it. He devours his homework. I could feel the pride come through the phone as Walter talked about him. I could just see the gleam in his eyes, and my pulse began to quicken in response.

Robby has been rewarded for his hard work and good grades with a once in a lifetime opportunity. He is going on a trip to Washington DC in late January. Specifically his trip will fall on January 20th. And while on his trip he will attend the Presidential inauguration. His school managed to secure a few dozen seats at the ceremony, and then they will attend a ball at night. Rumor has it, the new President will stop in at the ball and Robby might have a chance to see the President in person.

For that I am insanely jealous.

Yet I am also ridiculously proud.