Sam Says, “See You Later”  

If Sam heard her mom give one more “Pollyanna” speech about how lucky she was to be a military kid, she was seriously going to vomit. That feeling also rang true for the word resilient. Message received!

Sam, like so many other military kids got it. They understood the drill. They move every two years, they have to make friends quickly, they are flexible and adaptable, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

They were just words.

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The Waiting Place

There is a book written by Dr. Seuss entitled, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It really is quite remarkable how this children’s book can both entertain the very smallest child and yet speak volumes to adults, both young and old.

Over the years, it has become a graduation staple, full of autographs by every positive and influential teacher the alumnus has had since preschool. If you have not had the opportunity to read the pages of this book or if it has been a while, I strongly recommend that you seek it out . . . more often. What I believe you will find are comforting words that can inspire you to do, act, and be as you ought to be and not as Life would have you be.

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The Duty Station Not Taken

Last week, I challenged my high school juniors to take Robert Frost’s most celebrated poem and write their own version. The assignment instructed them to write about being faced with a decision, something they were unsure of, but might change them in some way.

The only catch was that they had to follow the same rhyme scheme modeled in the poem, and they had to keep the last original line.

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