A Toast to the New School Year

By: Travis Naughton

Watching my youngest child drive himself to school to begin his junior year and spending most of the morning scrolling through everyone’s “back to school” photos on Facebook last Tuesday left me with some powerful and mixed emotions.

First of all, let’s talk about how Bethany and I only have one kid still living at home getting his picture taken in front of our house on the first day of school. Just eight years ago, I snapped a photo of five kids standing in that very same spot on the first day of school. The oldest, Alex, graduated from Mizzou’s school of journalism last spring and is now a reporter for the Jefferson City News Tribune. Second oldest was Tiana, who just started her freshman year of college at Truman State University two weeks ago. Next was Truman, now in eleventh grade, followed by our great-niece Jayden, who is currently a freshman in high school. The youngest child living under our roof at that time was Jayden’s two-year-old sister Makenna, who is now a fourth grader. As any parent/guardian will tell you, eight years can pass in the blink of an eye.

Read full article in this week’s Journal…