Graduation day

This morning as I walked my daughter in to her class for the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!), there were balloons up, which reminded me that this was graduation day for the eighth graders and I got a little teary. I cried buckets as I watched my oldest son graduate from eighth grade two years ago. I always cry at least some at any pride/sad/mixed up occasion.

But when I went back to get my daughter at the end of the day (HALF DAY! They had pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Very academic.), there was our school's traditional poster up with pictures of all the eighth graders (graduation was already over) and I paused to look.

I remember most of those kids (there were about 30) from my second son's Kindergarten through fifth grade, before the school neglected to help him deal. I cried a little. All those beautiful young people, grown up so, so very, very much, heading off to high school. All those gorgeous kids.

And my son not with them.

I don't know if I was crying from regrets of not getting him back in there, but with the support he needs.

Maybe I was crying because those kids are gorgeous and their lives are about to be a lot different than a small, supportive school with people they've known forever--as my son's life is going to be changed in going from homeschool to public high school.

Or I was crying because my son wasn't right for the school and the school not right for the child.

And my son will never fit in there and now the opportunity to try is gone.

And they're growing up so fast.

AND on the way out, I hugged my daughter's second grade teacher (who was my oldest son's first grade teacher a long time ago), who is transferring to another school. And we both got wobbly. DANG IT.

But this afternoon, I took the kids to the community pool where we met my sons' old friends (who also used to go to that school, but who went elsewhere in middle elementary) and I got to sit and talk to my friend (their mom) for a couple of hours. I definitely needed that!

Even after swim time was over, we had snacks and the boys played tag (giant, galumphing teens), while my daughter sat on the play structure eating a ton of snacks. She didn't have lunch because of those pancakes in school, so by 4 and having spent 2.5 hours in a pool, she was starving.

String cheese, Goldfish, grapes, and Gatorade make a full meal, right?