this bird has flown

I think that the last time I mentioned Josh, was when I had to go up north and clean up the house after he and Kyle had trashed it. After that, he lived in a guy's garage for a while, then moved back in with his folks last summer. Josh has fetal alcohol syndrome, which has mostly effected him with some pretty severe ADHD and some learning disabilities. If you've ever seen my Facebook page, Josh is the kid that I have my arm slung around. I wrote this post about 18 mos ago.

But after his stint in the garage, something clicked with Josh.

Last winter, he got into NMU and is now majoring in computer sciences. He got a job this summer working at the NMU computer lab and got his own apartment this month.

He just posted this on his Facebook:

Hello Professor Markle,

I'm a Freshman level Computer Science major, and I am looking to drop a class I am currently enrolled in, as it is out of my current skill-set, and would love to replace it with your Mythology course at 1pm (*CRN- 81661). I understand that it is probably a little late to get into your class, but I know I can read the material, and am a phenomenal participant in classroom discussion. If this is something you see as being possible, please get back to me. I would love to hear from you soon.

P.S. Please read this message in the voice of Christopher Walken, as that would probably lighten the situation, and potentially help my case for getting into your class.

To which the professor replied:

Josh,
That's funny. You'll get far in my class with an attitude and sense of humor like that. I will add you (your postscript clinched it). Be aware that you have some catching up to do in terms of reading, and you missed lecture information. I'm definitely willing to sit down with you and help catch you up, though. Come to class on Monday with an add card and we will go over everything. Then we can schedule a time to meet and discuss (perhaps Tuesday or Thursday?). I will email you a copy of the syllabus later on today - I'm on a computer that doesn't have any of my documents at the moment. I look forward to meeting you, and I'll see you on Monday.
Cheers, J.

Oh, Josh, I do love you. Go get 'em, kid.



Christmas 2011