graduation

When I hear the words, Gourmet Gift Baskets, I usually think of some huge company distributing Christmas baskets full of wine and cheese to their employees each year; big, fancy, and expensive. After reading a press release about a company that is actually named, Gourmet Gift Baskets, I came away with an entirely different impression.

Gourmet gift baskets can be sent to honor any occasion; a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, or even for no reason at all. They can be made up of items from one particular state to show one’s loyalty to that state. They can be made up of only chocolate items for chocoholics. They can be filled to the brim with spices and oils for the chef in your family. They can be sent in honor of a house warming or a new baby. Name it and they can satisfy almost any occasion you can come up with.

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The trumpet player pulled into the empty high school parking lot and sat in his car, wondering where everybody was. He didn’t know it yet, but he was early. He’d gotten the day and the place right on his calendar, but the hour wrong. But because he didn’t know this yet, he wondered if it wasn’t in fact yesterday that he was supposed to be here, playing for the grand march that was the highlight of graduation ceremonies in this small Maine town, and now everybody in the town’s band was wondering where the hell he had been.

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As promised in my last blog, here are the lessons I've learned- all from the B's.

Bigotry- Still alive and well in June, 2006. It's disturbing to me that people still hate each other because they have more melanin in their skin. While I was in visiting relatives, they mentioned that a black couple had moved in down the street. I knew instantly that no good would come of this story. Just think about it. Why is that something that warrants a mention?? In my ideal world, that should be such a non-event that nobody even brings it up. Sure enough, the neighborhood set about finding a confederate flag so that the old, white guy across the street from them could hang it on his flag pole. Niiiiiice. I'm willing to lay down ten bucks that says they were afraid the black people would lower their property value. Somehow, I don't think they thought about how much lower it went with a confederate flag hanging out there. And one of the people who thought it was a riot has a grandbaby that is half-black. It makes me physically ill that my kids will know bigoted assholes like this. These kind of people were supposed to drink themselves to death on homemade moonshine a long time ago.

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The big night has come and gone. My baby boy walked across the stage.I cried and am crying still but many of the tears are from pride and joy.Not because he was an exceptional student...he wasn't. Not because he got many awards...he didn't. But because he is grown enough to judge what kind of a man he will be and because I love him so much!
It is no small thing to get a child raised. I propose that we change our terminology---"Labor" should be called "Birthing" and "Raising" should be called "LABOR"! I have been in labor with this child for 18 years and have now delivered a wonderful young man to the world! I feel the same as when I birthed him. I was sad that he had to leave my womb where he was close and protected. There was pain involved--lots of pain. I was also full of joy to see his life begin-- apart from me. Now he will leave the womb of our home and start an even more independent life. I feel the pain but also the joy!

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In eighteen days my baby boy will graduate from High School. Baby just meaning he is my youngest. I am pretty much a realist so I have been telling myself this day was coming, get ready for it. None the less, I am not doing well.
I have been raising kids for nearly thirty years and I have loved every minute of it.(Well almost every minute) He is eight years younger than my middle son, so he has been the only child at home for a long time. We are really close and there is going to be a huge hole in my life when he goes off to college. When the other kids left, I missed them alot, but he was still here. What is it going to be like now?

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I'll be posting a series of real-life articles I worte for my senior scrapbook May 2004.

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Best Day...Worst Day

I dont have just one 'best day' or 'worst day' from High School or my life. I've had a lot of good experiences and bad experiences, so it's hard to say. I have had more good experiences than bad, so I will begin with a few of the good experiences in my life...

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