After I retired from the Air Force, I did contractor work. I worked in an office with one logistics lady. She was married to an Air Force NCO, and had two daughters.
Prior to Ramstein, she'd been in Guam. As the older daughter entered the 5th grade, the mother went 'turbo' and pushed to an extreme on education. She spent at least ten hours a week with the kid on advanced stuff.
At the end of the 5th grade, the school staff did some testing and finally came to the conclusion....the kid was way too smart for the 6th grade....so they advanced her to the 7th grade. The kid was a A-plus student for the next couple of years.
At the end of the 8th grade...dad got a new assignment....going to Ramstein. The kid arrived and did great in the 9th and 10th grade. The school went and put on some special program. 11th grade? That was a breeze.
So there scholarship interest going on. The kid has every single block filled-in.
Georgetown University has a 1-year scholarship deal offered up in the 12th grade.
But there is an interesting change of pace in the 12th grade. Early on....the kid takes to partying, and quietly boozing up. It would appear that the teachers are on some agenda to ensure her grades don't slip.
The university scholarship is finalized. Mom takes the kid off to Georgetown and gets her plugged into a dorm room. Life for about a week....is about to peak.
The kid takes to partying and boozing. At Christmas break....the kid has two failed classes....two marginal-passing classes, and only class with decent grades. There's a warning note from the college....if something doesn't happen....the scholarship deal ends in June.
Well...2nd semester goes with four marginal-passing classes and one decent grade class. Scholarship ends.
Mom goes and picks up the kid. They return to dad's new base area.....where the family has a nice middle-class home with a fairly large basement 'bedroom'. The kid designates that as her room.
I got an email about 90 days after this 'return' from my former co-worker. The kid had adjusted to the failure, and simply was 'camping-out' in her room after breakfast....watching TV all day, and barely being seen.
About 9 months passed after that email. The next one came. The daughter was mentioned.....they had convinced her to get therapy, and the therapist had convinced her to get a part-time job....at some coffee shop.
Six months would pass, and I'd get one final update email....the daughter had agreed to take one class per semester at the local community college. She still spent the bulk of each day hidden.
It's been around 18 years since that email. About once a year, this will pop up in my mind. I would imagine now.....the daughter being mid-30s. She's probably still living in dad's house, and working at the coffee-shop.
The younger sister (by 4 years)? The 'ungifted' kid (a comment that mom will utter in the office on occasion)? I would imagine she went on to a normal college and graduated around 2013.
Life is not a paved road, or designed to be easy. Sometimes....you just need to focus and keep yourself in some form of moderation.
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