How far we have come

We have come a long way. 
And not just the 2020 shit. 
In life. This kid: 

Newborn

Senior Picture

Walking into his future (another Senior Picture)
Senior Picture photo cred: me, I took them in Winthrop last summer.
This is the one I put on his announcements with the "walking into the future" caption.

It was tough to "celebrate" graduation for several reasons - I'm not good at celebrating, we are taking the quarantine pretty seriously due to family with health issues, my new job cut into my time off. I mean, I can throw a party, but celebrating? Maybe I think too much about it. Anyway, his graduation week came and went without too much fanfare, we sat in our recliners and watched the valedictorians give their speeches, the principal leaked a tear or two during his presentation (his son was in the graduating class), and then we waited through the alphabetical listing of graduates (we are V's, so it was a wait). But all told, it was less than 90 minutes and we didn't have to park, wait, sit on a bench, wait, exit the building and all that. And then I was like "here's some cheesecake, happy graduation." Sounds lame, but my son insisted it was fine. Maybe it was. 

A few days later though, my SIL was coming to town, I had a night off and we just decided to do it. We had the family over for a BBQ, celebrated dads and grads and a birthday. It was a really  nice evening (with plenty of social distancing) and I enjoyed hosting the family at our place.

So that's that. He graduated. It was a process. This kid is the student I was. Not interested, "too smart for his own good", procrastination king. I worried until the last day if he was actually graduating. So glad the school journey is over for him. For me! Fun fact; a cousin sent him a graduation gift and included a gift FOR ME! She totally gets it! And it made an impression, I will remember to send the parents a little something going forward. :)

There is so much to be said about the past few years. I will come back to it. To this space, its been on my mind a lot. Maybe I just need an outlet. Certainly I need an outlet.