Graduations

 

This day has been looming for awhile and though I am excited for it, I'm not sure I'm emotionally ready. My eldest daughter is graduating high school and my youngest is graduating elementary school. The former weighs on my a lot more than the latter.

Preparations have been in the works for months, mostly by my wife and daughter. I have done a few things but haven't been pulling nearly my weight on this project. On this day, the morning of the graduation party, my job was to set up a tent that we bought from a friend whose son graduated a couple years ago, and set it up. As one would expect, the directions were lacking but I eventually got it figured out. Below you can see it partially set up with the roof in place and lashed down where I could. Knowing a bowline and trucker's hitch knots are keys in getting a flimsy affair like this tent lashed down to where only a moderate wind might jeopardize it. 

We are holding our graduation party a day earlier than most so that we can spend tomorrow going to other graduation parties. Then come Sunday, it is the real deal with a graduation mass in the morning and a full blown graduation ceremony for the entire school in the afternoon. After that, it will be a week of returning borrowed tables and chair, packing up the tent and other things, and enjoying a couple summer months before I have to move my daughter into a dorm room. Fortunately for me, perhaps her for now, that dorm room is about a two hour drive away so not to far. I have a feeling we will probably be seeing more of that college town than I have spent there previously over the last half century. 

Originally my wife and daughter planned a combination graduation and 18th birthday party celebration two weeks beyond graduation. I mistakenly suggested having a small graduation reception for those not interested in an 18th birthday "debut" at they celebrate in my wife's home country. I also suggested catering to relieve stress of preparation. The former idea was accepted but expanded on greatly and the later one ignored completely. As you can see, my wife spent hours in the kitchen preparing a feast for the many dozens of people who later arrived. Despite most of the above plates having several refills still inside in the oven or refrigerator when I snapped this picture, every morsel was gone three hours later.

I thought I would end this post with one photo of my daughter and her decorated cap listening to the speeches onstage. Planning on being a Neurology major, it says, "somewhere between neuronic and iconic" with a depiction of a neuron in the center.