Washington

Hi people! I'm actually writing this from the Arlington library in Washington State! I'm visiting Washington until next Tuesday and then I'll be heading back home. But Mary and I will be bringing my friend Lacey back with us to visit Nevada.

Early Sunday morning around 5 or 6, Peter, Mary, and I headed off on a 12-hour adventure driving up to the state of Washington. We stopped twice and- yes, I said TWICE in TWELVE flipping hourse- then we finally arrived in our onld neighborhood in Lake Stevens. Peter met up with Sam, Ty, and Theron and they hung out. Mary and I saw Amy again and that was cool.

Then we met up with my aunt who lives only a few blocks away from our old house. We hung out with Laurie, Greg, and my cousin, John, and spent the night at their house. Monday morning, John, Mary, and I said hello to all of our old friends from Lake Stevens. (Hello to Andrew, Adam, Aaron, and Kaylee!) We walked around Lake Stevens and visited our old haunts, HomeLink, the Library, the Lake, and the little coffee shop. (Which I highly recommend by the way. Get a triple chocolate chip mocha blended coffee. They're excellent.) Also, I checked out my old house and noticed that our old treehouse in the back has been completely demolished along with our porch. But they built a new one. And the apple tree, which was planted for my grandpa, is getting really big! I'm expecting to be able to climb it in a couple more years.

Monday night we all attended the HomeLink graduation at the LSHS. It was awesome. We saw old friends and old teachers, and met a lot of new people too. Peter and Sam were reunited and played onstage as music. It was pretty much AMAZING. I cried when Sam graduated, actually his graduation slideshow had pictures of my brothers and the boys back together and I was sad. But anyway. Afterward, I went up to Sam and I said, "Sam, congratulations! I'm so proud of you!" and to my surprise, he responded, "Don't say that, don't say you're proud of me." Taken aback, I asked why not. He promptly told me that he doesn't consider graduating from High School to be that big of an accomplishment. It sort of hit me then that he was right. We make such a big deal out of making it through high school and "overcoming all the obstacles", but really it's not all that difficult to read a few books and take a few tests.

The real challenge is yet to come. We're young and we have so much ahead of us, you guys. We have college, relationships, break-ups, marriages, and so much more that's so much more important than those four years of high school that will be left far behind us. High School doesn't make us who we are. We do that.

Remember that, guys. I'll see you in a few weeks, Winnemuccites.

It Doesn't Need Much Explaining

The New School Prayer

Author Unknown

Now I sit me down in school
where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
finds mention of Him very odd.

If scripture now the class recites
it violates the Bill of Rights.
And any time my head I bow
becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange, or green,
that's no offense, it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks
And pierce our noses, tongues, and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns but first the Bible
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We'll elect a pregnant Senior Queen
and the unwed daddy our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong
We're taught that such "judgments" don't belong.

We can get our condoms and birth control,
study witchcraft, vampires, and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed
no word of God may reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess.
When chaos rules the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot, my soul please take.

Amen.