Not much to say today. Been a busy week.
Last weekend, I volunteered as a tabulator at the Red Fern Feis and the Cherokee Capital Feis, two back-to-back Irish Dance competitions. They’re put on by Encore! Performing Society in conjunction with McCafferty Academy of Irish Dance. That means I got tucked away in a room with three other people and spent the day deciphering judges’ scrawls on the scoresheets so I could enter them in the online reporting system. It was a lot of fun, even if one of the adjudicators was a doctor.
This week, Youngest Daughter had her last Community Day for CC, then presented her Senior Thesis.
Third Son came down for YD’s graduation, and to celebrate his Thursday birthday. Friday night we took him out to dinner, and surprised literally everyone in the family when Grandpa and Aunt D showed up. They’d originally told YD that they wouldn’t be able to make it because of a race Aunt D’s son was going to be in. I think that may have been a ruse, because they called Diana a couple of days later to tell us they were going to make it, but they wanted it to be a surprise, and it was. It was a good feeling to see the shocked faces as they walked up to the restaurant.
Saturday was graduation and a party afterwards at Queen City.
YD graduated at the same church Oldest Daughter graduated ten years ago. YD’s classmate BFF is also the younger sister of one of OD’s classmates. Quite the bookend moment.
I didn’t cry. Much.
For her slideshow, YD chose Billy Joel’s “Vienna.” It’s one of my favorite songs of his, despite it starting as a B-side song (to “Just The Way You Are”). Joel said he wrote it as a metaphor for old age, but I think a number of lines probably clicked for YD as she made this transition.
Wow. All of my kids have graduated from high school now.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea.
The slideshows for her classmates made me realize how many opportunities I missed with my kids. I have a lot of regrets about the way we raised them, even if they’ve all turned out pretty good. There’s so much I’d have done differently if I’d known better. I let my doubts and insecurities keep me from so much. I hope they can forgive me, and I hope they can find their way in life.
I’m so proud of all of them. Thanks for reading! Feel free to share a thought in the comments. Sign up for my infrequent newsletter here. Find some of my other writing at The Good Men Project, too. Subscribe to the blog via the link in the right sidebar or follow it on Mastodon. You can also add my RSS feed to your favorite reader.
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