Friday, June 6, 2008

mah baby's done graduated

A major chapter of my life has closed. Since my baby graduated from high school yesterday, for the first time in thirty-three years I no longer have a child enrolled in either primary or secondary school.
No more frantic school shopping, trying to find the perfect clothes or shoes that fit or needed school supplies.
No more filling out medical forms, signing permit slips, or chaperoning field trips.
No more twice-daily trips to either a bus stop or a school building.
No more late nights trying to help a beloved child write a paper (that should have been written weeks ago) without actually doing it myself.
No more listening to kids whine when they’ve asked me to critique a paper and then don’t like my critique.
No more facing off with gym teachers who refuse to follow doctor’s written orders for my asthmatic child.
No more having a teacher physically or verbally abuse my child (mind, I haven’t a problem with a swat on the seat of the britches occasionally, and I don’t mind a teacher getting my kid’s attention with sharp words when necessary, but to literally drag my kid down the hall when the teacher wasn’t paying attention to her class in the first place, or to scream at my kindergartener for thinking he was supposed to be with me when I was visiting another teacher, is past what I consider appropriate).
Hey, and you know what?
Never again is a principal going to refuse to allow my kids to make up their work when I’ve kept them home on a stormy winter’s day...a winter’s day when the winds were clocked at 100 mph out by our house and one of the school buses was literally blown off the road.
And you know what else?
NO MORE PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES!!!
Ohmygoodness!!! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!
Anyhow, here are the pictures I took of my daughter on her big day.



1- loading up at home 2- with Dad at the E Center just before graduation



3- walking to the future 4- stepping out
5- happy day 7- the graduate
7- at a family dinner with steve's family 8- richie, too
9- and with Larry, his special friend,Cassie, and another friend, Nate

3 comments:

Anna Dutson said...

Congrats to Parents and Graduate! It's so fun to see updates on your family!

Cathy said...

Wow, does this mean you are going to be an empty nester? What a cutie pie daughter you have. Now you are just going to have so much more time to write, right...

Rick & Karen Mittan said...

Nope. Not an empty nester - one of her older brothers is still at home. And probably no time to write. Well, maybe no incentive is more like it, Cathy. I can't get my next book to come together, I have to can produce from the garden and paint my house and I have to get a job. I think about writing occasionally - trying to get the story in my mind to gel but it isn't working so well. I need to take a trip out to the coast for more research. And I don't see that happening in the near future.
Anyhow, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Best of luck to you in your writing endeavors. Stop in again when you have time.