Choir Banquet and my Granddad

Justice had a great year in choir.  I remember thinking how blessed he is to be part of such a great music program at his high school.  This music program is the reason I kept him in his old school when we moved and why I drive 25 minutes each way to take him to and from school.  If only I  had a little insight into what was coming in the future and what was about to happen.  I'm going to leave it at that, and save that story for another post.  I'll explain when I write the post for All West, which will happen next weekend.  And since I've said that, I won't backdate this post like I have been with the others I'm playing catch up with.

First of all, I want to say that this picture is the first picture I ever looked at and thought 

"Woah.  He's turning into a man."

I knew it was inevitable, eventually he was going to look like a man rather than a boy, but his strong jawline and his height in this picture, and even his smile just caught me off guard.

He received a lot of awards that night.  Leadership, Section Leader for Tenor 2, awards for being in Honor choir, unsung hero award for being so helpful to the Choir Director, and also for being selected to All West for three consecutive years.  I was SO proud of him.  

I also remember thinking to myself, "Boy, Justice looks like my Grandfather in this picture".  And funny I was thinking that, when my Aunt Janet said the SAME thing to me!  So I figured I must not be crazy, and went to look for a picture of him to compare the two.  The same jawline I first noticed in this picture is what made me see the resemblance.  And the smile.  I loved my Granddad and I feel robbed of time spent with him.  He was sick my entire life.  He had severe rheumatoid arthritis and died when I was 12 after being crippled as long as I can remember.  He spent the last part of his life several hours away from home in a VA hospital.  He had a personality larger than life as a young man, and was well loved by the community.  And if you look at the things he was involved in during high school, doesn't it remind of you of Justice?  No, Justice is not on the pep squad, but he certainly would be if that was a thing in this day and age.  That makes my heart full.  I choose to believe that I get to see a glimpse of what my grandfather was like through my own son, when my grandfather was young and before he was sick.  I can't even type that without becoming emotional.  I am grateful for it.  The "what could have been" is hard on my heart sometimes.

I am proud of my son, for working hard and for putting so much effort into choir.  It paid off ten fold with the awards he received at the banquet.  And I know that his future is bright, no matter what the future brings.