6813 days. 973 weeks + 2 days. 9,810,720 minutes. That’s how long Mr. Brillig and I have been the parents of someone attending K-12 school. We began on September 8th 2005 when K1 entered Kindergarten. As of May 3 2024, with K2’s last day of high school, this phase of our life is over.
This story isn’t about us, though. It’s about K2, and shoes. Sort of.
Many longtime Top Comments readers have followed along K2’s journey as a member of Casa Brillig. From our excited announcement in November 2009 that our adoption was finalized and we were the parents of TWO children now, and then our travel to Ethiopia to bring K2 home. Not shown here are his first first pair of shoes, the ubiquitous Crocs that every child at the Addis Ababa orphanage wore. Those stayed so another child would have shoes, along with several crates of infant formula and clothing we brought to donate.
Over the last dozen+ years you’ve followed along with all the steps in his life. His transition from speaking two languages (Amharic and Sidaminya), to just English (sadly, without native speakers of both available for regular practice, little kid brains don’t hold on to their first languages). His starting school, making friends, attending summer nature camp, and dealing with ignorant bullies (ironically, the kid who bullied him so badly in elementary school we had an official order preventing them from being on the same academic team in middle school became a friend and teammate in high school). You’ve gotten snippets of all of this either in my diaries, or when we’ve met at Netroots Nation (if at NN, I do not apologize for the 10045 photos of my kid you had to look at. I regret nothing). He’s walked a lot of miles in many pairs of shoes. From that first pair of kid size 10 to the current men’s 9, it’s been a journey we’ve been honored to be part of. I’ll come back to this in a moment.
Another pair of shoes. When we met K2 at the age of four, he was already playing with soccer balls at the orphanage. Also four-square, of which he was the undisputed organizer, but I digress. Here in the US, we got him involved with a local town team when he turned 6, and almost 13 years later we’re still buying cleats. Many, many, many cleats. Outdoor turf and indoor futsal cleats. Inexpensive early year ones and current $200 elite pairs.
Soccer has been his passion, his focus, and his outlet for everything this entire time. From early morning games to ones where we prayed the field lighting would stay on, to that first time he tried out for and made a club team. Learning the politics of who started and how NOT to talk back to your coach. Every year he aged up into a bigger field size and we went “omg it’s so big, how will they ever do this” only to find that yes, they were ready to do so. His making the JV team as a 9th grader, then Varsity as a sophomore… played during the pandemic years. And then his last year of soccer, in a new high school, part of a State Championship team.
This fall he learned that because of state athletic regulations, as a 5th year senior (more on that below) he was ineligible to play for his high school even though he’d only played 3 years due to an injury. Undeterred, he sought out and found men’s UPSL soccer, earned a spot with only one tryout (the others had been attending sessions for weeks!) and was possibly the only high school player on his team. Managing senior year of school along with 9-11pm practices because the rest of your team have jobs and families has been a testament to his dedication.
Which brings us to our last pair of shoes, the ones at the top of this diary. In early June 2022, finishing his junior year, K2 came to us. He said he felt he hadn’t shown his best academic self during the pandemic, that he wanted to do better, and he felt our local public school was no longer meeting his needs post-pandemic. We are HUGE believers in public school, but also that what’s best for our children individually matters more. K2 had investigated three private high schools, had begun applications, and had interviews scheduled which he needed us to attend. A whirlwind two months later, he was a reclassified junior (no school takes kids for just one year, so he had to agree to repeat 11th grade) at a local private boy’s Catholic school. To say it changed the trajectory of his future is an understatement. His love of learning resurfaced, his grades put him on Headmaster’s List, and he discovered he (like his sister) loved Psychology. We attended his Senior Capstone Presentation last Thursday and were beyond proud at how well he did. Over the past year he developed a topic, did lit research, interviewed relevant individuals, and put together a written, visual, and oral presentation package. His sister said it was better than some of her classmates at college had done.
But Brillig, what about those shoes? One of the requirements at his school is a dress code. The boys were required to have khakis or dress pants, either a school polo/hoodie or a collared shirt, and dress shoes on every day except the once-monthly dress-down day. So for two years, he wore these shoes daily. Asked if he wanted a second pair, he said he didn’t want to spend money on more, that these were find. At his Senior Capstone, the last time he needed these shoes (ignore Senior Week activities and Commencement, please :-)), they fell apart. Completely. The timing couldn’t have been better. K2 is headed to Sarah Lawrence College near NYC this fall, planning to major in Psychology. He also will be a member of the SLC Gryphons Men’s Soccer team. Stay tuned for more updates as the years progress :).
What do the shoes in your life say? If you’re so inclined, let us all see in the comments! But first, hop over the page break and stroll through tonight’s Tops!
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