Palmer Trinity School

It feels like yesterday that my son started sixth grade at Palmer Trinity School, but here I am, creating a mental to-do list for all the things we need to buy and accomplish before taking him to college in Ohio in the fall. It doesn't seem real! How is my little boy, my only child, not going to be living with me come August? Time flies, and oh how quickly our children grow up. As babies and toddlers, they keep us running after them physically; then they become teenagers and we're running around their emotions. Before you know it, they're 18. They're hardly children to the outside world anymore, but to you, they will always be that little boy or girl you'd drop anything to run after. Though many have tried to create one, there is no rulebook or 12-Step program for becoming the perfect parent. We all just act according to instinct and figure it out along the way. Every child is different, and as every parent can attest, until you have experienced raising a child yourself—from the late-night baby feedings and cuddles to the less-pleasant teenage outbursts—you don't really know what it means. While raising my son and watching him grow up, I truly believe I have grown up too. His life has been as much a journey for him as it has been for me. Speaking of growth, as you'll see in this magazine, this past year has been a journey for all of us at PTS, especially our students and teachers. In Expanding Our Classrooms, Adrianna Truby writes about how virtual education positively affected our children this year, an aspect of the pandemic we don't usually consider. Flip through our "Bird's Eye View" section and you'll see how COVID-19 changed even our most typical activities at PTS, like making a yearbook, putting on our spring musical and doing community service, and forced our students to think outside the box. On a personal level, it was a sad year for our school too, as in the midst of our pandemic isolation, we lost our beloved Registrar: Ms. Viviane Cerione. Parenting is a gift and a curse. It's something we want and something that gives us gray hair. We love our children more than anything, and sometimes we thank God for reminding us that we love them that much. Years ago, I thought about producing a documentary about whether or not we should have to be licensed to be parents. Like Keanu Reeves says in the movie Parenthood, "You need a license to fish, to sell booze, and to be a hairdresser. Why don't you need a license to parent?" As strange as that would be, I don't think it would change anything. We would all still be growing right alongside our children, learning from them just as they learn from us. My cousin described it perfectly when she told me this story. "One night, at 2 a.m., my daughter called me and asked for advice about how to calm her newborn child. In that same conversation, she said to me, 'Mom, when do they ever stop needing you?' I replied, 'Well, you're calling me at 2 a.m. about your child, so I would guess never.' She laughed." As my son walked across that graduation stage this past May, I couldn't have been prouder of him. I want to thank Palmer Trinity School for helping me raise my child. He has grown into a kind, smart, funny, independent and caring man and I love every ounce of him. In these pages, please enjoy stories about your children. Wishing you a wonderful summer. S U Z A N N E G O T T L I E B C A L L E J A A S S O C I AT E H E A D O F S C H O O L F O R C O M M U N I C AT I O N S A N D S T R AT E G I C P A R T N E R S H I P S M E S S A G E F R O M T H E E D I T O R S U MME R 2 0 2 1 5

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