My Pre-Kers graduated on Wednesday. It was a short little ceremony. The theme was "Proud to be Texan" so they sang Deep in the Heart of Texas, Texas Our Texas, and Beautiful Beautiful Texas. We also played a 15 minute slideshow that I created over the last couple of months and of course they received their diplomas. There were a few glitches along the way of course. One kid broke down in tears during Texas Our Texas because he couldn't remember the words, the music skipped during the slideshow, and one little girl was so frightened of receiving her diploma that she had to be accompanied by a teacher. But in the end, it all turned out great. I had a parent come up to me afterward and say just this to me: "Thank you for loving our kids so much." Then she walked away. I realized that I never really thought of it that way until she said it. I do love them. I love them with all my heart.
Jonny and I started a garden a couple of months ago. This morning a very exciting thing happened. We got our first Morning Glory flower on a plant that started out as a seed in a plastic pot. It was beautiful for so many reasons. It was a dramatic purple color with a beautiful blue hue that started towards the center. It was just one, but it made me so happy that not even the hour and fifteen minute drive to church afterwards could lessen my joy. We are still waiting on our vegetables... we have carrots, cucumber, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers. But they are all coming along as they should. Their growth is a little stunted because of the shadiness of the backyard, but they are trying their hardest. Eventually, I hope to be going to the grocery store for soymilk only....but that might take a while.
I am leaving on Thursday for California to watch my brother graduate. This will be a bittersweet moment for me. I am so proud of everything that my brother is and the man that he is growing into. He is taller than anyone in our family and in much better shape than I was at his age. He's had a serious girlfriend and can legally vote. But when I think of my brother, I will forever see him as the kid from a certain moment in our life. It is a Halloween when we lived in Reche Canyon. I couldn't even tell you how old we were at the time. All I remember is sitting with him afterwards in the living room looking over our candy. He was shorter than me and a skinny little kid with a bowl haircut. His voice was high and he called me "sissy". Even when he graduates college, or gets a job, or gets married, or even has kids, I will always see him as that skinny little kid, and when he calls me "Whit" I will always hear "sissy" somewhere in the back of my mind.
