Christmas vacation ended and, as my grandparents left, Dad told them he would prepare a place for them in the main house, where they could stay while a contractor came in to paint and update the interior to the servants’ quarters to Pop’s and Mama’s specifications. They made a short list of the things they wanted done, telling they trusted him to make whatever other changes he felt needed to be made. We said our goodbyes, but we were happy that they would soon be back to stay.

Of course, the end of Christmas vacation meant back to school. This was the last half of 11th grade, so Lisa and I made appointments with our counselors. Since we had both decided on careers to pursue, we wanted to see if any adjustments needed to be made in our course choices for the next school year. The counselors praised our initiative in making the appointments, and said the teachers had to guide many students closely, or they would start college still without a real career plan. Still, some started college with their career choice listed as ‘undecided’.

With the window completed, school alone was hardly enough to keep us busy. Lisa signed up as a volunteer tutor. So, two days a week Lisa stayed after school to tutor, and we got to borrow someone’s car. I am much too much an introvert for that. I like to help if I can keep my distance; that’s hardly possible for a tutor. I volunteered to do computer work in the school office. That was much more my speed. Of course, they felt the need to closely supervise my work and gave me tasks that were not connected with students’ grade. I wouldn’t have tampered with grades anyway, but they had no way of knowing that. Lisa was the only person I knew well, and her grades were already straight “A”s.

The rest of the school year was pretty uneventful. There was just enough controversy to fend off boredom. When the end of the year came, we both had maintained straight “A”’s for our entire high school careers. We realized it would be a shame to have any blemish on that record. “B+”? No way! We decided to be careful not to let things slip.

Pop and Mama moved from Tennessee, and the good life was even better. It was great to have so much of the family together. Some families, of course, couldn’t function with such closeness. The love is there, but the personalities clash. But most of the people in my family were easy to get along with. (Is that a dangling participle? “easy along with to get?” “easy with to along get?” I give up.) Most members of my family feel that family harmony was usually more important than winning an argument.

I mentioned our grades. Straight “A”’s? Nothing wrong with that, right? Well, maybe not, but it came with certain responsibilities. No problem for Lisa, but a big problem for me.

Near the end of the 12th grade, Lisa and I were called into the office and informed that our 4.0-grade point averages, while somewhat common in public schools, were a rarity at our school, and we were on a path to becoming the valedictorian and salutatorian. With equal grade point averages, she asked how we thought a decision should be made as to which of us should perform which role. It was, of course, very unusual to call in the top two students and ask which of them should be considered #1, but they knew that we were cousins and were very close. The thought of giving a speech to so many people was an extremely frightening idea for me, and Lisa and I both assure the Headmistress that Lisa was more comfortable with the valedictorian job, which would leave me with only leading the class in a short prayer and introducing Lisa. She would then give a speech, a task which she would actually enjoy.

Lisa would remember things differently, but in addition to writing my prayer, I wrote most of her speech with input from her. We presented them to the Headmistress, who enthusiastically approved them.

So, graduation day went like this:

School Headmistress
I’m not being facetious when I say our Valedictorian and Salutatorian are ‘Rivers and Brooks’. They are cousins Lisa Michelle Rivers and Sarah Rochelle Brooks. I asked them if they disliked being referred to as ‘Rivers and Brooks’, and they told me it was no problem since they came up with the term themselves. They each have an impressive 4.0-grade point average for their entire high school careers. When deciding which to have as Valedictorian, they both assured me that Lisa was more suited for the role and for giving the Valedictorian address.
We’ll now ask our Salutatorian, Sarah Rochelle Brooks, to pray that God will bestow His blessings upon this commencement service.

Sarah?

Sarah

Thank you, ma’am. Let us pray.

I would now like to introduce our valedictorian, and my cousin, Lisa Michelle Rivers.

Lisa
“Thank you, Sarah

Pause

“There are some, I hope it’s very few of you, who ask; ‘Why do they call it ‘commencement’, it’s the end of school’?

Lisa got a standing ovation, and we got “rave reviews” from school administrators. I had tears in my eyes, and I wrote the speech! We had been told that most commencement speeches were more secular, but Lisa’s was a refreshing break from the tradition. It is, after all, a Christian school, and we thought we were writing something that was exactly what was expected. I guess we kind of stumbled on to something special.

High school behind us; Lisa and I were ready for our lives to “commence”

Next: Graduation, morning-after