Yes, he is...

Well, yesterday was a grand day indeed. I actually met Katharine Jefferts Schori. I even shook her hand. It would be good to tell you that I was able to get in a word about Fort Worth and Integrity. I would have liked to have said "As a member of the Board of Integrity, let me tell you how much we appreciate all that you are doing". It would have been great to even offer a suggestion as to how she might do more. However, that was not to be the case.

For those of you who know Tucker, well, you know that he is indeed Tucker as only Tucker can be. Being the fidgeter that he is, sitting in a chair waiting one hour for the ceremony to begin is just not within his capabilities. Of course, he had to go to the restroom. Being eleven years old, he is allowed to do that by himself. So he went.

He came back fifteen or so minutes later and all grins, his hand held out, palm up and said, "Do you want to touch this?" If you don't have an eleven year old boy in your life, let me give you warning - Always say No to that question and Never, ever reach out to grab the upheld hand. Trust me. There are few things on that hand that you would ever want transferred to your own skin. It is always best to just wait and listen rather than reach out and touch.

So, I merely stared at the palm, wondering what he had gotten in to now. Still grinning, he said…”I am never going to wash this hand.” So the questions began…Why? “Because I just shook hands with Katharine Jefferts Schori.” Wow! What did you say to her? “I told her that I was Tucker and that one of my mom’s is Barbi Click.” Cool! What happened then? (and no, they did not go on to talk about me…) “She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told her that I wanted to be a Paleontologist. She said that was awesome and that she used to be an oceanographer.”

About then the graduation ceremony began so we stood up.

Afterwards, there was a reception for all the graduates in the courtyard of St. Matthew’s. Somewhere, quickly melting into the crowd, Tucker disappeared. Knowing full well that he was on his way to find our Presiding Bishop once again, we set off to find him. Sure enough, I spotted him. In the process of reaching out to grab his arm, he was able to reach out further and faster to grab her arm. As I pulled on him and said, Tucker, no! she turned and saw him. She smiled at him and then looked up at me. “This one belongs to you, I presume?” Yes, I said and I introduced myself. She looked back at him and said, "Well, he is an amazing young man, isn’t he?” What could I do but agree with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Bishop to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe? I just smiled and said, yes he is, thank you.

An aside from one of the parents of this “amazing young man” – I just learned that he scored a “commended” performance on his TAKS Science scores – 39 out of 40…