Published: September 10, 2007 02:57 pm      

Luck follows in the wake of tenacity

One of the ways in which newspapering has changed over the past few years is the emergence of electronic mail, or e-mail. In addition to reporters going out and getting the facts on a story, in the past people would bring in to the office items of interest that they wanted published: notices of club meetings, weddings, Uncle Joe's birthday, that sort of thing.

Way back when, it was mostly a face-to-face meeting with people, a chance to get to know your neighbors. In the impersonal world of e-mail, you might exchange keyboard clicks with someone for years and never meet them directly.

No matter how impersonal, there is a human being on the other side of that netherland whose physical world is just as real as yours. I was reminded of this in an e-mail exchange recently with a Cresaptown lady whose daughter has been accepted at Frostburg State University. Her daughter's credentials were impressive: Acceptance into the Honors Program on an Academic Distinction Scholarship, plans to attend Georgetown University in international studies and foreign affairs with an emphasis on French, Italian and Arabic.

She plans to pursue foreign service and is certified to teach literacy, currently volunteering with Allegany County's Adult Education Program.

Whew!

Her mother adds that the young lady in question, well, you might as well know her name - Jessica Lynn Diggs-Growden of Cresaptown - became interested in that field by listening to stories told by her father, Ronald Growden, a retired Air Force colonel and Air Force Academy graduate whose career took him all over the world.

"She became interested from his very first word," typed her mother. And the stage was set.

"We're very proud of her," added her mother.

Indeed.

Her mother, Desiree Growden, is one of many thousands of parents who are sending their offspring off to college and are wistful and justifiably proud of their youngsters' past accomplishments and future aspirations. Shutting the door behind them is difficult, but necessary. In reality, you've been preparing them for this moment for some 17 or 18 years and now it's time see see how well you succeeded.

And when they call home, telling you how they did this or did that, visited a world spot you've only dreamed about, met some figure on the world stage as a result of their chosen profession, or was merely reminded of a pleasant incident from childhood when confronted with a particular situation, your shirt buttons fairly burst.

Mrs. Growden wrote that she is awed by "that incredible young woman" who was once her baby. I typed back that I, too, as well as my wife, find it difficult to visualize "our babies," one a teacher and the other a university professor, as leaders in their respective fields and communities. And how they conduct themselves with such dignity and grace. And how they end every phone conversation with the words, "I love you, Dad."

Certainly this scenario resonates with multitudes of other parents.

Are we lucky? Well, luck is a relative term. I don't think luck has much to do with success. Of course, you have to be in the right place at the right time, etc., etc. But in the end, luck follows closely in the wake of tenacity and hard work.

Rick Twigg is a Times-News copy editor.