It’s that time of the month again, where I can sit and share part of my world with you. I will start by congratulating all parents, uncle, aunts, grandparents, and everyone else who has had somebody graduate from the educational system, this season. My oldest boy just graduated from High School here in Dallas, a journey which started off in Beltsville, at Kids in His Care on Ammendale Road and subsequently the Basseterre Seventh Day Adventist School. The Frisco School District used the practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys, for the graduation service. It was interesting to see how well the entire function was organized. The hardest part was waiting through each of the 427 students being called up to the podium.
As a former teacher in Brooklyn New York and St. Kitts in the Caribbean, I appreciate the efforts of all the teachers who year in and year out, help guide our young people. It takes a whole village to raise a child. It takes a lot of teachers to guide our young people right.
I look back with pride on some of my former students. Some are pilots and I have had the honor of flying with some commercially, in the Caribbean. Was a bit scary flying with people I saw learning how to drive their parents’ cars. One flew me on LIAT, a Caribbean Airline, from Trinidad to St. Kitts. I have students I taught who are now Ministers of Government, Leaders of Political Parties, and other important jobs in society. So, I know many of our Beltsville Teachers will be proud of their efforts. Congratulations and thank you for your hard work.
Dear Reader, I am getting old (er). My first son is 18 years old and God willing will be off to College in the Fall. Recently, my son decided to treat me to breakfast. It felt great to go out with my son – he picked the venue. It was a nice breakfast place, and we had a nice server. When the bill came, as is customary, the server put the bill next to me. It felt strange telling her that he was actually the one paying. What was nice was us having a conversation as two grown-ups. He is no longer the little boy. Parenting a young adult will be an interesting experience. I am teaching him how to drive and he will have his first real test in a few weeks when we go on a family road trip. In the past, I would be the one doing the entire 12-hour drive, but I have advised him that he will have to help me with some of the driving. He is excited about it.
Reminds me of when we drove the Penske truck from Columbia, Maryland to Dallas in 2019. We were on the road for a long time. We drove away from Beltsville about 2 a.m. on a Thursday morning, arriving our destination in Dallas close to 530 a.m. Saturday morning. The father-son time and experience was priceless. We talked, he slept a lot, we had fun sharing music play lists and then the greatest challenge was finding spots to eat, along the way.
Talking about food, I miss my favorite spots in Beltsville – Sardis on Route 1 by the Wawa Gas Station and the other Peruvian spot, Chicken Camponero in the Maryland Farms Shopping Center on Cherry Hill, beside the 7-Eleven. There is also The Jerk Pit on Rt 1 and Rt 193. I miss that proximity of shopping places in Beltsville. By the way, I hear my favorite store, Shoprite, on Cherry Hill Road, has gone out of business. I had always loved that store, right from when it was called Super Fresh, in the late 1990’s.
Well, I cannot wait to visit Beltsville in 2022, God sparing my life. I doubt I will make that trip this summer as I have seen and heard about the cicadas, and I don’t want to mess with them. Not that I am scared but there is a proverb that says, “Let sleeping dogs lie…” That’s The Jive!