A great Rags clan Easter

We had 7/10 of the Rags clan at mom and dad's for Easter weekend. My bride and I, our son, and my niece and eldest nephew. My brother, SIL, and youngest nephew were at their home in Asia and could not make it due to my brother's work and nephew's school schedule.

All in all a pretty good weekend. The three young people who made it are all inspiring and inspired performers.

My niece will finish her BABA in early may... at least she will walk anyway. She has three summer classes to finish before the university actually confers her degree.. She is taking 21hrs this semester and is pulling A's (5) and B's (2) across the board. She is a beautiful young woman and has made remarkable strides in evolving from what I could only classify as a ditzy party girl to a poised and intellectual young woman over the past 3ish years. She is being courted by several financial services companies, a notable technology company, and the FDIC. She turned 23 in February.

My eldest nephew is a university Sophomore studying for a dual major in Engineering Business and Computer Science. So far he is an honor student and has a significant academic scholarship to a prestigious Tx university. He is singularly the most focused and driven young man I have ever seen. Focused and wicked smart. He is also an accomplished self taught guitar player and plays in various student groups and ministries on campus when his school and study schedule allows. He will be 21 in November.

My son, SSgt Rags, just finished his first 6 year enlistment and started his next enlistment of 4 years in the USAF. He works in a Computer Science field and is working on his BSCS. He and his cousin spent quite a bit of time geeking out in technical CS conversations about various programming languages, CS related fields, etc.... My son will be 25 in a few months.

Aside from the "kids" spending hours on the floor in the storage room going through piles of old photo albums and boxes of old family photos while laughing their butts off at my dad's side burns and my elephant bell Levis we had some great family time together. Lots of bantering, feasting, teasing and very interestingly in depth discussion on world and national events, politics, and the US and global economies. Let me tell ya..... these are three very sharp and engaged young people. They are interested, informed, and have no problem asking tough questions of the oldsters and laying out well thought out and cogent arguments and counter points if they don't agree.

This weekend truly gave me pause to consider that maybe, just maybe, our nation and the world may not be in too bad of shape for the next generation after all.

I hope everyone's Easter was a good one.

Rags's blog
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Comments

I think we have smarter kids

I think we have smarter kids than ever before out there. They have a world of knowledge at their finger tips. We just have to give them an opportunity to succeed.

No offense to older peeps out there, but from what I've seen, the older generation won't/can't retire and leaving the younger generation with too few chances to succeed. I say while sitting next to my 65 and 68 yr old co-workers who have no retirement dates in sight.

Won't and can't are

Won't and can't are reasonable reasons to delay retirement, especially if they are not financially ready. Good on them if they are still working and paying their own way; those are admirable traits.

Success does not depend entirely on putting "old folks out to pasture" to free up slots - it also involves expanding your own career horizons by taking risks and seeking out other opportunities.

I understand what you are

I understand what you are saying but I also see real life. I'll be 40 this year and I'm one of the youngest where I work. There are lots of reasons that we need younger people in the work force. We recently had a seminar explaining the age gap in our career field and what the likely consequences of that will be 5-10 yrs done the road.

You are very fortunate indeed

You are very fortunate indeed to have such a promising group of young people in your family! To be able to have such great connections and conversation is a gift.

I think this is the kind of family gathering that most people dream of, and too few (at least in skid situations) ever have.

I too am hopeful for the next generation. For all the accomplished kids like these, there are also a goodly number who are bound to be mentally, emotionally and fiscally incompetent. And will become a burden on their more accomplished peers, like your young family members.

Sounds satisfying both

Sounds satisfying both intellectually and emotionally!

I had 2 Easter family gatherings to attend so it was rather hectic. I started by taking Munchkin SD10 out to get her an Easter Dress. This girl is a jock-in-the making and not a girly girl, so I was uber excited! She picked everything out herself and looked WAY cool! A striped maxi dress that was a mock turtle neck, over black leggings with black boots, a black denim vest and a flower hairband, all in black/white (mostly black) Did I mention how utterly cool she looked?

The first family gathering was my adoptive Stepfathers family, where my brother and sister-in-law brought my nephew. It was nice to see my Uncle, who is my age and his young children. Their teeth are all bad, and I know they are somewhat neglected, but for that space in time it was nice.

Then a race to SO's family gathering after picking up Winona SD18, who had spent her Spring Break being coddled and spoiled by maternal grandparents. She was in high spirits from the visit. There was more food than I even want to think about, hilarious family stories and much laughter all around!

Thankfully, we dropped the skids off at BM' house and enjoyed a creepy thriller in peace and quiet.

Attack of the Killer Easter

Attack of the Killer Easter Bunnies!!!!! }:)

LOL, 'attack of the Easter

LOL, 'attack of the Easter Bunny with split personalities'!

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