So...deep breath...Harrison is a senior! He is eighteen. He just finished his first semester of senior year. That means we have one more semester of high school and then it's time for college. Seriously? How did this happen??? It seems like he was just a silly little toddler, talking jibberish a couple of years ago. And now we are submitting housing information for college.
I will say, Joe and I have loved every minute of parenting this boy of ours. I can honestly say, I have no regrets. I'm so glad that I was able to just work part-time and be very flexible with my schedule so that I don't feel like I have missed much. I enjoyed the days of "play dates" with other new moms (actually it was play dates for moms, since the kids were newborns and have no recollection of any of that). I loved those toddler years where Harrison made me laugh ALL the time. The years of being homeroom mom, making Christmas ornaments and tooth fairy pillows in elementary school went by too fast. And middle school (which honestly, scared the foo out of me heading into it) really was fun too. Those first years of playing school ball and running cross country and track for the first time...middle school wasn't so scary after all. Let's be realistic, middle school is NO ONE's best time in their life. But, it was relatively painless.
Then, just a few minutes ago, he started high school. I remember driving him to his first cross country practice with the big boys. I have to say, high school has been probably my favorite time yet with Harrison. He has great friends. His faith has grown by leaps and bounds. He has learned a lot of life lessons (and school lessons too). And he still makes me laugh ALL the time.
Last spring Joe and I read the devotional "Draw the Circle". And we realized that we needed to boldly ask God to open the doors to the right university for Harrison AND also provide a way to help pay for his college education. We prayed that God would put him where he could influence others for Christ, not be influenced by the world. So, we committed that each time we sat down together as a family to eat that we would ask God to provide for Harrison's college. We asked Him to surprise us. Little did we know that several doors would open. Harrison had some schools talking to him about running in college. He really got his heart set on one school. We all visited and LOVED it. It felt right. Harrison prayed and really felt a peace about the school and their running program. He even had one of his best running buddies there as a freshman, they could be teammates again. We knew what they had to offer him academically and athletically for him to attend this school. They had pursued him, we felt pretty good about the possibilities. When the offer came, it was a very obvious closed door for us. It was really hard to understand. But I knew that we had asked God to put Harrison where he would influence others for Christ, not be influenced by the world.
Another school had been calling and Harrison hadn't really been very interested. But we scheduled a recruiting visit. He spent the night, ran with the team, then we toured the campus and got a clear academic scholarship offer. Then we met with the coach. We assumed it would be informative, but that we wouldn't have an offer until later. When we sat with the coach he told Harrison "we want you". (Who doesn't like to hear that?) And he made Harrison an offer on the spot. We both left there in shock. It was an awesome offer. I went to Joe's office and gave him all the info. That night we talked as a family. We all prayed about it. And honestly, the next day Harrison felt really confident that this was where he was supposed to be. Not only were the scholarships great, but it is an amazing school and he really loved the smaller size and everything about it. So, a week later he had his official signing day at school and agreed to run track and cross country for Oklahoma City University.
So, my big old baby boy is officially going to college next year. We are beyond blessed at all that God has done. And are thrilled that he will be close. AND, he still makes me laugh all the time. I love being Harrison's mom!
