My daughter's 8th grade promotion...

SO I am sitting here in a sort of strange state of shock. It took a minute to really sink in. In fact, I paused to acknowledge and honor the huge significance of this day.

Today I became the mother of two high school students, my son is a junior as of today and my daughter was promoted from 8th grade becoming a freshman this afternoon. My daughter and son have grown into amazing young adults before my eyes, and today I saw so many familiar children also coming into their more grown selves. I chaperoned the 8th grade field trip to the amusement park. Many of these children attended my kid’s after-school program, where I taught for a couple of years. My children have grown up in this neighborhood. I’ve volunteered for parent stuff, visited classrooms, performed and done workshops, you name it…And to see so many youth that I hadn’t seen in awhile: taller, adolescents, at various stages of comfort and discomfort with themselves and the world around them heading off to their futures gleefully on rollercoaster rides.

Then, there is the other layer that always happens at these monumental landmarks… I remember my mother and I reaching these same milestones and it saddens me that she can’t be here. My mom would have been hollering about her brilliant grandchild who was one of the MC’s of her graduation! She was beautiful and amazing, and at some point she giggled near the microphone and to hear my daughter’s laughter made me so happy. She held it down sitting in front of a packed auditorium the whole time. She was also one of about 5 people who got straight A’s all three years of middle school, and her class was about 250 strong.

Earned a little mommy bragging rights so I wanted to get that out. YES! That is my child!

The big question now… what will I do with two teenagers and summer break! Madness!