

Let's Celebrate Life Every Day
ever return from a car trip and feel the urge to
"dropkick-them-through-the-hedge?" You bet. Were
there ever times when their ingratitude or
procrastination just about sent us "around the bend?"
Oh, yeah. Did we struggle to gain even primitive two–
way communication? Uh-huh. Have we ever wished
they wouldn't tell people their last name? Yep. Are we
on a "first-name basis" with several auto-body shops
in town? Sure.
Nevertheless, I would like to share with you a partial
text of the traditional senior letter that parents present
to their Harding Academy graduates just prior to their
Commencement exercises. The opening paragraph of
the letter I wrote my son just before high school
graduation and then the closing paragraph of a similar
senior letter to my daughter (the in between pages
contained a chronicle of interesting events in their lives
to date):
Here, on the eve of your Graduation is your
senior letter which we have been writing (and
rewriting) in our minds for nearly two decades.
You are, as you know, our special son. From
the beginning, you were so "special" in the way
that you came to us, and "special" in the
procedure of your selection into our home. You
are "special" because, as our adopted son, you
seem to have that "extra-special" touch of God's
beauty treatment in your physical appearance.
We have always believed that God made
"special" children and "special couples" to get
together the way we have in our stay-together–
forever, two parent, Christian family.
AND THEN ...
156
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