Seniors, you’re not forgotten

By MARY LOU THOMPSON

Time flies by so quickly during these long “stuck-inside” days, and then again, time also seems to just drag by. However, one of the things I wanted to do with all this spare time was to write about how happy we are to be back in CDA after four months away as snowbirds. How we missed our daily newspaper! It’s like a welcome home friend on our doorstep every morning (thanks to our faithful paper carrier — and thanks for special delivery to our door by the editor himself when our first paper got misplaced!). Loving all the good stories I am reading in our daily CDA Press. Keep up the good work, editors.

I read every word of the article by the teenagers in the April 5 letter about Stolen Traditions — of how sad the teens were about missing their special honor days of drama, sports, ceremonies. It’s easy to forget how important these things are to young people and what significant milestones they are in life.

I am sorry to any of you out there who had this disappointing experience, but life will go on, and someday it will all just fade into memories. Don’t let them be bad memories, however; remember all the good, fun things, the special friends, the great teachers who cared for you, the accomplishments you made — even without acclaim.

Your efforts will not be wasted; the self discipline, the commitment, and the cooperative spirit you learned in these activities will follow you into the next experiences of life, making you a better person, able to handle life more completely because of them. Others will not always notice your accomplishments; there will not always be a supportive parent, teacher or coach standing by to congratulate you. But, you will know if you have done a good job and that’s the most important part of your accomplishments.

So please accept our sadness for you, and our congratulations to you for a job well done; but also accept our encouragement for you to keep on keeping on. Thank you for showing up for practices all those times when you could have been doing something else; thank you for al those missed meals and those tired nights when you still had to do homework when you got home. Thank you for the commitment you made to your team or to your group.

Life has lots of blessings and challenges ahead in the road. You have much to learn as well as much to teach others as you go.

It was good to read about the Friday night parade of cars in your honor. See, you are appreciated! Your community loves you.

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Mary Lou Thompson is a Hayden resident.