The Graduation Boy

He did it.

He graduated from High School!

As his mother, I am extremely proud of him... and a little sad, too.

In fact, I wondered if that kid would ever make it through.

 

See, he has more of a laid-back personality than I do. I can’t count the times he had missing assignments, and I went into some kind of off-the-wall dissertation about the benefits of turning your work in early, or even on time, and he said, “Mom, I got this.”

I would roll my eyes and try to stop my heart palpitations... All I could think of was that if I would have done these things in high school, my parents couldn't have stood it! It was unheard of to not do your work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We wanted to graduate and go to college, moving on from the "childishness." Well, maybe that was just girls. I don't know because I have never been a high school boy. 

This begs the question: Do parents really need to know every single aspect of their kids’ grades and the progression throughout the semester? I don’t know the answer to the question…

 

My parents came and celebrated with us. And my dad was just beaming. He had some challenges in his early life that could have destroyed him, but he made it work for him. Today, he is very successful.

He and my mom gave Jonah a very thoughtful and unique gift. The really cool thing is we had an opportunity to sit down with them, just my parents, Jonah and me, and they presented his gift to him. Jonah actually got a little teary-eyed, which was surprising because of his even-keel personality.

They gave it to him again the next day in front of everyone else, and that was really special.

Last year, they found fuzzy robes on sale, and they bought one for all of our kids, Jim and Dad. They decided to make a group called “The Order of the Robes.” When Mom and Dad arrived at the house on graduation day, Dad was wearing his robe, and they had their first “meeting.” It was awesome!

 

My parents bought the balloons and the cake, and Jonah loved it!

We ate lunch before heading out to the graduation ceremony. And you know it's not a party until someone sits in hummus! Thank you, Caleb, for obliging.

I'm sure Jonah's girlfriend probably didn't even know what to think of all of us. But I think she had a good time!

Even though over 550 kids graduated in the ceremony, it didn’t really take that long. I sat there in a daze, mostly, trying to get a glimpse of the boy I gave birth to over 18 years ago… hoping that he saw his mother in the stands, smiling, screaming his name and clapping. Fortunately, my husband is a teacher at that school, so he got a good video for me to watch of Jonah walking across the stage.

 

So, the whole hullabaloo is over… Jonah is a high school graduate, and he is working at his first job. It’s only part-time right now, but you have to start somewhere.

I have a couple of years until the next boy graduates, and then a couple of years after that until the twins graduate.

Time is going by too fast! 

 

 

Seriously. But I sure am proud of my sons.

 

And grateful we are together.

Never a Dull Moment

If you and I sat down and had a heartfelt conversation about all of the happenings lately, you probably wouldn’t even believe it.

I can’t believe it myself.

On May 21^st, my 15 year-old son was messing around at school, like normal teenagers do. He was probably being a little careless. And wouldn’t you know it, the rolling ladder he was playing around on became off-balance, and it fell on top of his arm, snapping the two bones in his forearm like brittle wooden sticks.

He began yelling for my husband, and when he got to the hallway and asked what happened, Caleb said, “There is no time for questions! I broke my arm and need to go to the emergency room!” So, he made arrangements for his classes, got into the car and called me at work.

I’m unsuspectingly going about my day. I had walked away from my desk and phone for a few minutes, and when I got back, I saw that Jim had called. I called him back. When he said that Caleb broke his arm, he was taking him to the ER, and I asked how that happened, he said this…

“This is no time for questions! What ER do I take him to?”

Flustered, I told him I’d call him back. I fumbled around for my insurance card and

online and had no luck. I finally called the clinic and was told to take him to a free-standing ER.

I called Jim back and told him where to go. I walked around the office and told everyone what happened and called my mother, who asked if I was going to the ER. I guess I hadn’t even though of it at that point.

Anyway, my boss let me leave, and Jonah and I met them at the ER.

Sure enough, his arm was broken. He would require surgery. And it was a good thing the backpack was on the floor where his head fell, or else…

 

Unbelievable!

When a family is going through such a shock, and your child needs surgery, you probably aren’t thinking of the financial obligations that are going to arise because of it. Until the surgeon’s office charges you his portion of the surgery. And the surgery center calls and says you are required to pay $2,500 the day of the surgery. All I could say was, “What?”

This was not an elective surgery, as you can see. His arm HAD to be fixed. With plates and screws. It wasn’t an easy fix with just setting it. He has metal in his body now. He has laughed about what will happen at airports, and I’m thinking, “When do you fly?”

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, my washing machine, which has been with us for 12 years and has probably washed over 20,000 loads of laundry (with a family of 7 people), decided to die over that weekend. And I had to visit the laundromat twice. Very glad I had help from two of my kids.

 

 

As you can see, they were very thrilled, but I paid them back by taking them to Braum's. So there!

We had to buy a new washing machine... right in the midst of this medical stuff. But it's pretty!

 

Then, 8 hours away from us, my 8 year-old nephew contracted walking pneumonia and has been in the hospital for the week. My brother and his wife just had a new baby not even three weeks ago, and their family is separated due to the contagious nature of the pneumonia. And their daughter is staying with someone else. Because they have house issues, too.

My mom is the middle-man, the relayer-of-information. I call her, and she calls my sister and brother. My brother calls her, and she calls me and my sister, etc. I’m sure it is so hard for her and my dad standing by while all of these things are going on with all of us.

The surgery went well and was almost 2 weeks ago, Caleb gets his stitches removed on Monday. Our 18 year-old son graduates from high school on Tuesday, and I’m sure I will be a mess.

The really odd thing about all of this is I have not cried. Now, I’m not saying I haven’t been teary-eyed at times, but I have held my emotions in and held myself together. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing. While listening to a gospel channel on Sirius in the car one morning this week, I heard a song I haven’t heard in a long time called “When God Ran.” Look it up if you want, but be prepared for a tear-jerking song.

I thought I would be okay, but I wasn’t. When I felt the “ugly cry” come over my face, I threw my hand over my mouth and stopped it in its tracks. I just didn’t have time for it. Is it bad that I’ve been able to keep my emotions in check during all of this?

I don’t know. But I am thankful Caleb is okay. And I’m thankful that my nephew is getting better.

I’m sure one of these nights, I’m probably going to cry and not be able to stop for a while. I hope it’s not graduation night.

In all of these things, I'm very grateful I have a God whom I can count on. I have run to Him more times than I can count over the last couple of weeks, and I truly believe He has listened with caring and compassion towards me and my family. And honestly, He really probably is the only reason I have stayed strong throughout these trials.