Saturday, July 14, 2007

Our oldest grandchild, Justin Arment, came last night to spend the night with us. He just graduated from high school in May and now is getting in last visits before going to Marine boot camp on July 22. Hard to believe he's grown up now - and so level headed and grounded. He always did well in school, and the summer after eighth grade began an "Upward Bound" program at his school and attended an entire month of the summer at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri taking college courses. The Upward Bound students stay at the dorm and have classes beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. By the time he graduated, he had quite a few college credits already and had completed the higher level math offered (calculus, trigometry, and some I can't remember names of). I'm so in awe of him and the way he has managed and mapped his life goals. When he entered the delayed entry program of the Marines during his senior year, he signed a contract offering him 5 years of college, getting paid at the rate of Sargeant each month, and after the 5 years of college, he will work for the Marines for 3 years.

It was hard to say goodbye when he left this evening. I felt like I was waving him into his future as an adult. I love this first grandchild of ours so very much.