Graduation!

 

So this happened.  My boy.  My baby.  Sniff.

I wanted to take a picture and Braeden said, "Let's stand by the clocks to illustrate the passage of time destroying Mom."

Braeden got his old horse head (why is that still at our house?  You and Anna can take it...) and had Mark wear it for a picture.

Braeden said, "Can I make a blog request?  Will you put both my picture and Mark's picture wearing the horse head on your blog?"

Sure.

My boys are kind of weird but I love them.

Graduation was at Rio Tinto stadium in Salt Lake City where the Real Salt Lake soccer team plays.

Adam met us there.  I felt very smug about our good seats but then the graduates didn't walk by where I thought they would.

They showed some scenes from Chess and I was too slow with my camera.  That is the back of Mark in the brown jacket.

We cheered on our boy when he got his diploma:

There were a lot of graduates to go but we all had phones for entertainment.  

Mr. Durfee retired and they honored him.  One of Mark's friends texted him this during the graduation and Mark texted it to us.

Emma created an album cover, just in case Mark ever starts a band?

On google maps it lists where we live as Monkeytown for reasons none of us know.

We got some more pictures when it was all said and done.  (Emma said, "Was my graduation that long?"  Yes.  Braeden said, "Was my graduation more interesting?"  Not really.)

The necessary Mark and Anna shot:

Here's a bunch of drama kids...being...dramatic.

I told Mark we could go wherever he wanted for dinner.  He picked Red Robin, much like his namesake would have done.

Adam and I rode home together and the kids all took the other car.

"Our last graduate," I said.

"Yep. It's weird."

"Yeah.  Not really sad, but weird."

It's almost too much to contemplate, let alone write.  This huge piece of our life is shifting, but also not.  We know that adult children are still a lot of fun (and sometimes stress).  It's not over by any means.  But it's different.  The only thing to do is enjoy every season as it comes.  

I love this big kid who is funny and smart and capable and maddening and talented and a bit battle worn.

At the same time, I'd pay big money to put my arms around this little guy, his damp shoulders wrapped in a towel warm from the sun.

It went too fast.