Thursday, June 29, 2017

Party Month 2017 #1


It is the end of June, and that means that the Martin family has entered another Party Month. First up--as always--is Grace's birthday (which occurred this pas Monday while we were on vacation in Huron, Ohio on the banks of Lake Erie).

Grace is now 14 and is preparing to become a freshman in high school.

This summer she's been mostly occupied with getting prepared for her first year of marching band. She is going to play bass drum 2 (the second smallest) in the percussion battery. As is true of everything she does, Grace is working hard and accepts from herself nothing but the best performance. Her expectations for herself are high--and she is facing a bit of a learning curve as we gets used to marching for the first time (not to mention doing so with a heavy drum strapped to your upper body).

But I have no doubt that, given time, she'll be showing others how to do it right.

Grace, in other aspects of life, is doing her thing with determination and confidence. She is growing in her political awareness and her personality is changing to match. Get ready for an ear-full if you disagree with her on political or social topics. She'll be polite (to you at least--if not always to me), but she's not going to back down from her opinion and she won't hesitate to let you know what she thinks. All great qualities to have and I am extremely proud of her.

Socially, she has maintained her friendships with a strong group of middle school friends--a rarity in my limited experience. These girls have remained tight through all of the ups and downs of those most difficult school grades and I am happy that she transitions to high school with a reliable set of old friends, while beginning to meet some new band friends for the HS years ahead.

In short, Grace is awesome and only gets better as the years go by. I am so very, very proud of who she is and what she is becoming. It's great fun being around her and watching her grow.

Happy (belated) fourteenth birthday to you Grace. And thanks for kicking off another Party Month in style!