Just back from the big graduation... all day I was mentally reliving my memories of my nephew from the first moment our eyes met in the hospital. I even wrote him a long letter (that I told him to read some other time) to express my thoughts and share a little Aunt Lisa Wisdom... and cried the entire time I was writing it. (Good God, I can only imagine how emotional I would have been if he was actually MY child instead of my sister's! What a sap!)
The weather, miraculously, was cool and perfect, the ceremony held on the front lawn of the school with the sun setting in the background. Since my sister and I also attended and graduated from this same high school (me, Class of '79 and she, class of '81), it was a bit nostalgic being back there over 25 years later, watching the next generation of the family graduate.
We even caught a bit of a rainbow just behind the American Flag with the school sign in front of it - quite a nice touch, God - Thanks! The kids did a good job with their speeches, and I got some decent video of Steven's big moment and that of his girlfriend and some of his close friends. It'll be a nice momento for him... sure wish we had video in "the old days".
You know how sometimes the kids get really emotional when they are graduation - mostly the girls of course? Well for me tonight, the saddest moment wasn't the speeches or even thinking about my nephew being "all growed up" -- it was when I realized I actually remembered, verbatim, the Alma Mater song. And yes, I even remember the tune and can sing it. Clearly, I need to press the "delete" button on that file in my brain's memory banks, because talk about a waste of space!
It was really nice that he was just so happy the entire night -- it's good to see him enjoying the experience, although it was so rushed and we hardly got to spend any time with him. Now he is off to Project Graduation with all his friends, and may I just say: kudos to all the schools who offer a safe and supervised way for the graduating class to kick back and have a great time, without them having to be out at some drunken brawl where someone always ends up in a terrible accident. (Frankly I remember attending one such drunken brawl after my own graduation and 2 more of them the day after... I'm lucky I made it out alive; but then again in those days the drinking age was 18 so at least we were "legal".) I know we'll all sleep well tonight knowing where he is and what he's doing - and more importantly, what he's NOT doing.
Here's to the Warren Hills Class of 2005!
