"Please stop teaching my children that everyone gets a trophy just for participating. What is this, the Nobel Prize? Not everybody gets a trophy." ~ Glenn Beck

Here we go again. Spin the wheel and where it stops no one knows. It is Monday, June 3, 2019, and we are off and running in a brand new month. The photo of Mr. Bentley and I sitting outside got quite a bit of attention on Facebook. My tongue-in-cheek caption mentioned I was training our 13.5-pound guard dog. I actually think some people may have thought I was serious, therefore, I tried to clarify by saying he barks a lot but is more likely to lick than bite. That caused a dear friend of ours to send me this little ditty which I thought was certainly worth sharing: "Sir Bentley Barksalot, Esq." I thought that was pretty clever. Mr. Bentley does like to sit outside. Even in the heat. Even when there's not enough air to go around. He actually likes to sit under my chair, root around in the grass, and munch on whatever he is able to pull up. I'm trying to make him either stay in my lap or sit in the chair next to me. The wife isn't too much into him eating the greenery but I just figure he occasionally likes a little salad. I thought we had pretty much put the puzzle chewing problems behind us but the wife moved one of the rugs and found one of her now mutilated missing pieces underneath. Yikes. He needs to either eat them or learn how to hide them better. You do know I am kidding. Can anyone see my wife? Is she smiling? I sure hope so.

Our granddaughter did get herself graduated from high school last Friday. Unfortunately, we were not able to be there. Well, we were able to be there, but, we did not make it. We were very excited about being there. We had planned our day accordingly. We had one major disconnect. Around 11:45 a.m. we received a text from our youngest, her dad: "Where are you? It starts at 12 noon and Lexie will be called first." We couldn't believe it. We had fixed firmly in our minds that it was Friday evening. We were actually outside in the yard when we received the message. We were crestfallen. The wife cried. We were so very sorry. I sent notes to everyone confessing our complete misunderstanding since we thought it was Friday evening at 6 p.m. Lexie was very understanding. She said she loved us. Her mom said it was a failure in communication. That was very kind as well. We had our plans made. We talked about it all week. We were going over earlier to try and miss the traffic. We certainly missed the traffic and everything else as well. At the end of it all, I tried to put it into some perspective. It wasn't meant to be and perhaps there was a reason we were not able to make it. It reminded me of something I used to drill into my people back in the day, "It's not only doing the right things but it is doing the right things ....right!"

I have been seeing all the photos on Facebook of kids being congratulated for their accomplishments. Pretty impressive stuff. High School and College? Nope. I'm talking about every kind of presentation imaginable beginning with toddlers, preschoolers, and up. Kids covered up with certificates, flowers, ribbons and medals of all kinds, and rewards for their great accomplishments. Churches too. I hope this is healthy. I don't think we did any of this type of stuff when I was a kid growing up. Add to the end of school and other class types of recognition, the huge range of sports activities too and it is like an avalanche of adulation. Tiny tots all getting their participation trophies. I'm sure there's no harm in kids wearing a cap and gown for kindergarten graduation, but, it is as if there is almost a competition to have it in every area of participation one can come up with. Yep. We know it is for the parents and grandparents. I actually thought about this after hearing someone on the radio talking about why our children grow up with such unrealistic expectations. He mentioned these types of seemingly harmless awards that become the norm. A lifetime of this kind of adulation and the real world can become very scary to those who have been led to believe they are beyond something special. I don't know if this is a part of the problem or not, but, I mentioned it because it does seem to be very much on the increase, and, at least, some people think it could be detrimental over the long haul. Just throwing it out as a topic. Enjoy the rest of your day and may God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.