The teen was in the hospital recently.

A brief (in our book) stay at the hospital kept him out of school for approximately a week.

That was, unbelievably in some ways, almost 2 months ago.

Since then his struggle to get back into his previous stellar grades has been immense.

Whether a genuine struggled to get “Back on the horse”

or just general rebellion

the grades have remained low,

assignments unfinished,

and general malaise has centered around school.

I’m sort of ashamed to admit I broke out the story.

The age-old old-farts beginning sentence of “When I was your age”.

Because I once had an 8 week bout of  mono.

Out of school for 8 weeks and my grades were BETTER than they’d ever been with me in school.

So I broke out that story.

And ended it with the general rule of thumb in this house.

We don’t let our labels define us.

We don’t let them lead our lives.

No.

Illness isn’t an excuse.

It never will be.

So buck up.

Suck it up.

Do your homework.

And don’t let CF or hospital stays win.