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The boy was inducted into the National Honor Society last night. He goes to the same high school his dad and I went to, and the only thing about the place that's the same is the auditorium. In the boy's three years there, I think this might be the third time we've been there.

Anyway, we live in a kind of nice area of town. Our particular neighborhood is older but established, but certainly the school draws students from some pretty fancy neighborhoods. And I've always had pretty low self-esteem, and being around some of those people just sets that in high gear. (My grandmother would say, "I wish I could buy them for what they're worth and sell them for what they think they're worth," but I've always just figured they were as good as they said they were.) So the dh leans over to me and asks, without me saying ANYTHING about my own feelings (but we have been married 21 years), "Are we achievers?"

That stopped me. We are, but no one would ever know by looking at us. We do it quietly. No one would know by looking that my dh, in his untucked shirt and blue jeans and stubble, has 3 Emmy awards. No one would know by looking at me, with my too-long hair and 2 year old purse that's not a Coach and a blouse from Stein Mart from about 5 years ago (but still in very good shape) that I have 2 published books and have finalled in the Golden Heart 4 times. So my self-confidence grew a bit.

Then during the ceremony, one of the girls spoke on character. I wanted to find her afterward to get the quote she used but it was something about who you are on the inside matching who you are on the outside. I really liked that quote.

The school has a HUGE string orchestra (when I went, there might have been a dozen). This orchestra took up most of the stage. What was neat to the former music teacher in me was when they called for all the NHS candidates to stand, a full third of the orchestra rose. Now, the inductees are juniors, and the orchestra is all grade levels, so that confirmed, to me, the connection between music and achievement in school. (Maybe I'm looking at it backwards, maybe the kids in orchestra have parents who push them more, but I like to think of it as the other way around.)

I did get the giggles when the principal was outlining why these children were chosen. Organization? Studies? HOW did my kid get in?

BTW, he's the only junior on the UIL team going to State! It's the day before his SAT and they leave the day of his last TAKS test (that was fine planning on the UIL committee, wasn't it?) but he's going to State!

Alas, he still doesn't know how to sort his dirty clothes - instead, he dumps them on the bathroom floor so you can't even walk into the bathroom!

The other night I wasn't getting ANY email from the MJ account - my loops overwhelmed the poor thing and locked it up! I had over 1000 emails in trash!