53 Years later my son is at Bridgton Academy
By Bill Humphreys
Do the math and my classmates could’ve had their grandchildren already pass through BA by this time.
So I was a late starter, let’s just leave it at that for now.
I had been back to the chapel to address the student body on two occasions over the years and never thought for a moment that I would have a son attending Bridgton Academy.
It wasn’t until recently that I stopped having my once a year dreams (nightmares) that I was stuck back in Bridgton study hall.
I was the last Humphreys in my family capable of carrying on the name and I was just about out of time at age 54 when Ian was born.
As the early school years clicked by, we could tell Ian was an intelligent kid, with great athletic skills who showed no signs of ADD, which had been a major problem for me, while I was growing up.
He had good study habits up until somewhere around 7th grade and even brought home “Honors” once. This was a bit alarming, because I had my own desk in the principal’s office at this point in my academic career.
One reassuring thing about his good attitude and grades was that he would probably not have to attend Bridgton Academy. He was on track to go directly to the college of his choice with some scholarship money to help. Sara and I are still not in the right income bracket to support him much financially.
Suddenly this all began to change. When Ian turned 13 he did not exactly ease into becoming a teenager, it was an instant transformation which made the 4 generation gap in our age difference, painfully obvious. Throw a cell phone and a girlfriend into the mix and Dad was going to be in for a rough ride for the high school years.
Most of you know where I’m going with this. At this point in their lives, it really doesn’t matter, how much older the Dad is. He is Dad and that alone is cause for some serious communication issues.
Flash forward four years to the fall of Ian’s senior year when the college selection method begins and the whole process was just too overwhelming for all of us.
Fortunately I had managed to introduce the concept of attending Bridgton Academy to Ian during his junior year and had coach Nutley visit us during the summer. By November there was absolutely no resistance offered when I suggested Ian and I drive up to Bridgton for a visit.
“It takes a Village.”
The trip was a success and Ian bought in on the whole concept and he never wavered from that point forward. This took all the stress and deliberation of the college selection procedure off the table but presented us with the next obstacle, which was, “How are we going pay for this?”
This is where my “Late Starter” lifestyle was coming back to bite me, and I was not about to let my lack of financial planning deny my kid the one thing he really wanted to do. The one chance he would have to mature in all aspects of his life, with the proper guidance and move on.
I can remember sitting down to talk with him when he was 14, about a new career I would be taking on as a truck driver. I was well past the age where corporate America was hiring, and we still needed health benefits for Ian to play sports. We all make sacrifices for our kids, so re-inventing myself as a truck driver, was necessary. But we still needed help for Bridgton.
So we let our extended family and friends know what were up against and with their, and the Academy’s help we figured out a way to get it done.
Being on campus for Alumni Homecoming Weekend brought back some great memories of the classes I took and games we played both on and off the field.
The flashbacks to my days at BA were so far removed from the current setting and support system, I had to pause before telling Ian and his new found friends any of my stories from back in the day, but tell them I did. What a treat to meet one of the star soccer players (from Egypt no less) in Ian’s dorm room and say, “Ian didn’t tell you that I was co-captain of the soccer team in 1964 and we won the state championship?”
Sara and I got a chance to sit in his class rooms and get good reports from all his teachers, who are totally invested in Ian’s success. Knowing that my kid is happy and studying in the same dorm that I was in 53 years ago is reassuring as I get behind the wheel at 4am for the start of another long day.