Sorry about your genes

Ryan's grades are in and they are as dismal as was his older brother's. I sat them both down for a little talk-down. Did you party too much? Do you really put out the effort? Is it the tests or the papers that are hanging you up? Didn't I raise smart boys? What the hell is the matter with you guys?
"It's our gene pool," Beau quipped. "Not too blessed."

Oh, so it's my fault? Jeeze. If Ryan's headed down the same flunk-out path as Beau then I say let's stop the bleeding now. He can follow his brother straight to work. Their dad's in Mexico so not here to join me in the rant. I phone him to listen to my grievances and offer support. But shouldn't I have expected--he'd take their side. "Why don't you just believe them, he suggested? They've never done well in school. I never did well. We're just not that smart, but those boys are going to do very well, you'll see." Jeeze, again. No sense arguing with any of them. Those boys got everything my DNA had to give. I don't know what else to do but to state my dismay and disapproval for the record. I need Ryan to know Mom's hip to any attempt to skate though school unmolested by a little guilt and shame if he is indeed skating.

In the end, I defer to Robert's ironic wisdom about scholastic intelligence. He seemed to navigate through life pretty well even though academically challenged. Maybe he knows something. I know plenty of excellent students who fared no better in the big picture. We all know the millionaire next door was a C student in school. But often, they are also uncultured, narrow-minded bores. There's a lot of them are in the salvage business. I say, what good is a million dollars if you're not interesting to be around? I wanted my sons to be gentlemen and a tad bit cultivated. A little Grey Poupon with that PoorBoy, please?

Oh well. No sense getting in anymore of a fuss about it. Raising kids is one perpetual experiment. I don't know anyone who's developed the best formula for success or for that matter anyone who agrees on what success is.