September 18, 2000
DOWN HOME:
College night provides educational experience
___College night at Lewisville Independent School District resembled nothing I possibly could have imagined.
___In about the time it takes to read this column, Lindsay has grown from a kindergartner to a high school junior considering colleges.
___Just the other day, or so it seems anyway, Joanna and I hauled Lindsay and her littlesister, Molly, up to the schoolhouse for our first PTA meeting. We thought we were getting mature back then--old enough to have a kid in school. What did we know?
MARV KNOX
Editor
___On that warm autumn evening in 1989, I couldn't have envisioned Lindsay and me lining up for college night on a sultry autumn evening in 2000.
___College night reminds me of a cross between a trade show and a carnival.
___Lindsay and I first thought we were attending a pretty highbrow college night for a couple of minutes. We could only see the second, third, fourth and fifth letters on a coed cheerleader's red uniform: "A-V-A-R."
___"Harvard!" I told Lindsay. "This is going to be interesting."
___She looked harder, with younger eyes. "That's what I thought too," she said. "But it's 'Navarro.'"
___Sure enough, Navarro College from Corsicana sent its Bulldog cheerleading squad. They seem like nice kids too. But for a moment there, I was excited about the Ivy League coming to Texas and trying to teach real football fans how to cheer.
___(By the way, what do fans cheer at Ivy League ballgames? "E equals M-C squared! We can't run; we can't fight. But we're going to be rich and you're not!" Avant garde cheers don't have to rhyme.)
___Lindsay figures Harvard doesn't need to send recruiters to Lewisville, because anybody who might want to attend Harvard will be willing go to Boston for a visit. She's probably right.
___So, we started surveying miles and miles of non-Harvard booths.
___As we walked and talked and looked at the bright displays, all these recruiters began to seem like 200 boys standing in line to ask my daughter for a date.
___But not just any date. An out-of-town date. For four years. And I can't act brooding or foreboding enough to scare them off my porch.
___Lindsay's like millions of young people before her. She has grown and matured from that dependent kindergartner into a bright and responsible young adult. And as much as her mama and I have enjoyed her growing up-years, the day of her departure is approaching. Unfortunately, it's much faster than we'd prefer.
___College night reminded me how blessed parents are, that God gives us the privilege of raising children and the sweet sorrow of watching them prepare to leave.
___
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