MondayMeanderings - 5.14.2018

I have mentioned this before. I participate (from behind the sound desk) in many of Anderson High School's academic events - Trustee Awards, Baccalaureate and such. Each time I do, I come away with a renewed sense of trust in the younger generations. Friday night I watched as about 400 students were recognized for a wide variety of awards and accolades. And this scene was repeated in high school after high school.

Last weekend we were at Lipscomb, proudly watching Jericho and a host of his classmates graduate with their own awards and accolades.

There is cause for hope, folks.

After Jericho's graduation, the family gathered for a celebratory meal at Monell's - a very popular family-style restaurant. Located in a stately home built in 1905, there is seating in a number of rooms for a dozen or more at each table. When your party is seated, the remaining places are filled with folks from the wait list. A variety of home-style southern comfort-food dishes were passed (the server kept repeating, "Pace yourself!"), and a good time and a good meal was had by all.

I couldn't help but remember a story told us by an optometrist friend of ours. He had received his medical degree from a university in the Atlanta area and was back on the campus several years later for a seminar. He and a couple of classmates decided to go have lunch at a boarding house near the campus - a favorite back in his starving-student days.

They joined the crowd of folks at the dining table, and proceeded to help themselves to the home-cooked dishes at the table. Well into the meal, the person seated beside our friend leaned over and said, "Are you gentlemen staying for the funeral?" And it was then they realized this was no longer a boarding house!