8th Grade Graduation

It's early in the morning, 7:45, yet the sun is already beating down in a way that lets us know that summer is here and it's going to be a hot one. 

It's cold in the gym but I'm sure it will warm up as more family and friends of the graduates file in.

I stood in a long line of parents most of them weighed down with congratulatory balloons, bouquets of flowers and giant stuffed animals, to wait my turn to enter. 

An opportunistic entrepreneur set up a table outside the gym to sell cold drinks, snacks and all the graduation accoutrements you could want, a giant rainbow of balloons and stuffed giraffes and pandas and bears wearing grad caps proudly saying "class of 2016".  If you were a slacker and didn't get your stuff earlier you had one last chance! And a lot of people were taking advantage of it.

I am empty handed, save for my cell phone of course. Our graduation plans consist of being extremely grateful that he was assigned the 8am ceremony instead of one of the later ones and bolting as soon as we can after to join the kids at the house who were left packing boogie boards, sunscreen, floaties and a picnic lunch. We are off to the beach. 

It's not that I am not proud of him, or that we are not. The opposite is true. We are very very pleased that he has had all A's all his life. We are bursting at the seams that he scored the highest in the school on the NASA science test. We are thrilled that he learns easily, works hard, and remembers what he learns. We are thrilled that he is a good scout, fine athlete and kind young man. We feel blessed that he is intelligent and obedient and the most wonderful boy ever:)

Where am I going with this? It's graduation! I am excited and proud and looking forward to what the future brings this boy. I am sad he's growing so fast, the years are short. I celebrate with the other parents, those carrying balloons and having party plans that will last late into the night; and those that will go home, throw their suits on the floor (oh maybe that's just my boy!) and hop into the car for a sweaty drive to a sandy beach for a day with cousins and babies and seagulls stealing Doritos.

It's a milestone day no matter what.