Hawaii Bound
Woke up this morning at 4:30 am to say goodbye to my 13 year old as he got ready to leave for Hawaii today. This trip has been long in the making and I am so happy for him to have this wonderful opportunity. I can't wait to hear how his adventure goes and discover all he has learned from his trip.
I keep thinking back to when his interest in travel first came about. Back in 5th grade he was invited to join a group called the Ambassador program. These are students who are selected to travel across county with teachers and chaperones for educational experiences. He was so excited, we were very apprehensive due to his age, but he wouldn't stop asking about it. The more we looked into it, we knew what an awesome experience it would be for him. So we went to a large meeting for the trip planned to England, Scotland and Ireland. He was so eager to join this trip. I admit it the trips look amazing, and are done top notch with many educational benefits to those going. But then we found out the cost. Trips cost anywhere from $6,000 to 10,000 or more depending. They talked a lot about fund raisers and how you can get raise the money. But I just had a little baby (Zeke) and knew that I would have to do most of the work, and if we didn't raise the money Ross and I could just not afford to pay for this. So we sat Xavier down later and talked to him about it. I know he was disappointed but he understood our financial state.
Then at the end of 6th grade, he brings home paperwork for a Travel club offered at Rushe Middle school. The trip was planned for Hawaii and he was so geeked up over this trip. He talked about it non stop. So we said we would look into it. We discovered this was to be another educational trip, (meaning they have tours and learn about things every day) and the price to go was a fraction of the trips for the Ambassador Club. SO we consented. We told him very clearly that he had to raise the money or work for all the cost himself, because we could not afford it ourselves. He agreed to the conditions and got to work. We asked him to write letters first explaining his trip and to see if anyone would be willing to donate money for his trip. He got some money, but not much. It turns out that in our families, if you are not going on a "mission trip" and going to a place called Hawaii, that is not a cause even close family want to support. I get it, don't like it, but I get it. So he only raised about 20 to 35 percent of his total. Then he worked every week with his dad mowing lawns to raise his money for over a year. Ross gave X all the profits of the lawn mowing funds and he went to work. He also put all Christmas money, birthday money and extra money that came his way towards the trip. We had great friends and neighbors that let him work by weeding their yards, scrubbing patio's, and dog sitting and cat sitting and used every cent towards the trip. I can't be more proud of his efforts. I don't know if I was 12/13 if I would have worked so hard for so long. But it has been his goal/dream to travel and we let him work for it.
As I gave him my "mom" speech last night and this morning, I just kept reminding him how proud we are of him and how hard he worked for this. I highly doubt we will do this again or he would even have the opportunity again with more sports and other things taking precedent. We are also thankful that he is not truly alone in this endeavor. As I found out during one of the meeting's that friends and family were welcome to come along. My mom had jokingly told me that she wished her and dad could go with him. I told her they could actually, if they wanted to and from there it started. So he will meet his grandparents in Hawaii and I'll have a peace of mind someone I trust fully will keep their eyes on him.
So that about sums up the how and why Xavier is on this trip and the why this mom is feeling proud, sad, nervous and emotional thinking about her oldest and all that he has waiting in store for him.
We love you Xavier and are so thankful you are our son!
God bless!
