Anarchy99
Footballguy
I rarely give much thought to things in life that I hope to avoid and truly never want to experience. However, last night there was something that no one should ever have to endure. We went to our son's high school awards ceremony, and at the end they award a sizable scholarship to whomever was deemed worthy to close out the evening. Except last night they had another scholarship to award after the biggest one, which would be contrary to the norm.
The mother of last year's top scholarship winner took the podium to tell the story of her daughter. She was accompanied by her other older daughter and reviewed the plight of the scholarship winner. A year ago, they were ecstatic to be in attendance just like all of us were assembled last night, eager to hear what awards and special recognition our kids would be receiving (parents are notified in advance that their kids won something but there are no specifics given). The girl enrolled in college and had come home for Christmas . . . only to collapse and die from a blood clot.
Since the scholarship was not used, they invited the mother to come back to have the scholarship money reallocated to another deserving student. The mother broke down countless times, and at one point almost collapsed, only to be held up by her daughter. Totally grief stricken (which was 100% understandable), she could not stop sobbing and had to take numerous breaks to try to collect herself. She was balling her eyes out and struggled to finish her story and complete the award presentation.
Never before have I witnessed first hand the raw emotion and the frailty of the human condition. HUNDREDS of people in the room could not stop crying for her as she bravely pressed forward and finally announced the replacement scholarship winner. She got almost a five minute standing ovation by the end.
I was sitting next to another woman who endured her own grief 15 years ago, as her son had also won the prestigious scholarship award but opted instead to join the military. Two years later he was killed in action (and a memorial scholarship was created in his honor). Even this woman was balling for the other mother.
Afterwards, my wife said she was going to complain about having a rough day but that would be so wrong and inappropriate given what the woman had suffered through. Absolutely one of life's cruel twists of fate. Not sure how I would ever cope if something happened to one of my kids. Still extremely sad.
The mother of last year's top scholarship winner took the podium to tell the story of her daughter. She was accompanied by her other older daughter and reviewed the plight of the scholarship winner. A year ago, they were ecstatic to be in attendance just like all of us were assembled last night, eager to hear what awards and special recognition our kids would be receiving (parents are notified in advance that their kids won something but there are no specifics given). The girl enrolled in college and had come home for Christmas . . . only to collapse and die from a blood clot.
Since the scholarship was not used, they invited the mother to come back to have the scholarship money reallocated to another deserving student. The mother broke down countless times, and at one point almost collapsed, only to be held up by her daughter. Totally grief stricken (which was 100% understandable), she could not stop sobbing and had to take numerous breaks to try to collect herself. She was balling her eyes out and struggled to finish her story and complete the award presentation.
Never before have I witnessed first hand the raw emotion and the frailty of the human condition. HUNDREDS of people in the room could not stop crying for her as she bravely pressed forward and finally announced the replacement scholarship winner. She got almost a five minute standing ovation by the end.
I was sitting next to another woman who endured her own grief 15 years ago, as her son had also won the prestigious scholarship award but opted instead to join the military. Two years later he was killed in action (and a memorial scholarship was created in his honor). Even this woman was balling for the other mother.
Afterwards, my wife said she was going to complain about having a rough day but that would be so wrong and inappropriate given what the woman had suffered through. Absolutely one of life's cruel twists of fate. Not sure how I would ever cope if something happened to one of my kids. Still extremely sad.
