Last semester of high school
- Laura Gilbert
- Jan 26
- 3 min read
When you hit your mid-40s, you realize you can’t continue to change for people. I have decided to accept who I am, but now it’s time to go back in time and figure out exactly how I got here and what I don’t want to take moving forward. As the parent of a senior in high school, I am making a conscious effort to let go a little and make sure he’s ready for the choices that will be laid before him as a freshman in college.
As I look back on it, I was in no way ready to go to Eastern KY University, but my grandparents paid two of my classmates from E-town High School to move me into the dorm my grandmother lived in. I made it one whole semester until I waited for my grandmother to read my dread-stricken face about having to go back there after Christmas break. I’m sure I would have been fine if she made me go back, but since I was a kid my grandparents raised, they were tired and done fighting with their kids, so I stayed in Etown the second semester of freshman year, went to the community college, got a job at Meredith and Sons Glass (that was an education on its own), and went to Cancun for college spring break like every college kid’s dream. Then I moved to Lexington to go to UK the following fall and roomed with one of my favorite people, Amanda (pictured over my shoulder, but the other person pictured, Leslie, is pretty awesome as well). We ate those nasty olean chips that caused all kinds of gastric problems, watched that tan man work out on the beach on TV, and drifted from party to party in Lexington. We did go to class every now and then, but it wasn’t very regular. I got a job at Dick's Sporting Goods in Hamburg and helped open that store based on my skill of being able to make change without a calculator. I lasted another semester somewhere and realized I was too far from home, missed my friends from Etown, and there was too much to distract me there. So there I was doing another semester at ECC and trying to figure out where the heck I belonged. I tell you all of this to urge your kids to stay at home if they seem like they have no clue what path they want to go down. My grandparents offered no direction. My grandfather thought since I had his blood, watched him for 17 years, and had access to his financial help, the world was my oyster. All he knew was that I would work.
He would tell people, “We don’t have to worry about Lees. She will always work.” (My family calls me by my middle name, “Lees.” I gave up trying to explain to people how it was spelled in 4th grade when everyone was spelling it with an apostrophe, “Lee’s,” like the fried chicken franchise. I just said, “Never mind, just call me Laura.”)
Anyway, I made sure I worked the hardest at whatever I was doing, except school. It was so hard for me, but because of WKU, I actually have a college degree. So as Garrard has grown, he has had a few rails he has had to stay between. First of all, he wasn’t allowed to have a girlfriend until he had a job. I told him no girl wanted a broke guy. So he got a job at BG Home Furnishings when he was 15. Jason taught him so much. Second of all, I can count on one hand the times he has come home after 11. It’s served us well, and he gets a decent night's sleep. Third, I bought a car that we needed, not what he wanted. I wasn’t going to pay for what we didn’t need. He straight-up sucked at driving that truck for a bit, but he really has mastered it over a year in. It’s taken some beating, but I think he’s safe in it. So now he has started his own salvage and removal business and is planning on staying at WKU for freshman year. He has my work ethic, and I believe it will serve him well. I just hope his hairstyle stands the test of time better than mine did.
