The Youngest Finishes College

Our youngest son, Zach, graduated Saturday from Drury University with a degree in musical composition. It’s been an arduous journey, taking more than six years. Zach carried a huge load his last semester, 18 hours, and earned an A in every course. He did this while working 30 hours a week to help pay for school.

I’m glad Zach felt nurtured in music growing up. All three of our sons took piano lessons when young and all did quite well. But only Zach stuck with it, and he has become not only a skillful musician, but a talented composer as well.

Thankfully, Zach persevered. As a kid, I dragged Zach and his two older brothers out to play baseball quite a bit. His brothers loved it; Zach preferred to be about anywhere else.

Lately I’ve grown closer to Zach’s view in his disdain for watching sports as a waste of time. But it’s never a waste to listen to music.

Zach accomplished his school progress without a great deal of financial help from me. Now comes the difficult part: finding a job in his field — and paying back student loans.