SHIT

Every one else seems to be writing full posts and such. Not me. So bullets:

• We celebrated our TWENTY FOURTH wedding anniversary
• We paid off the house we bought in 1996. On a twenty year note. Seven years ahead of schedule.
• We are preparing for the annual white trash fourth of July
• Which my parents will attend for the first time ever
• I love my daughters
  

Letting Go

Do you want to know what I did before work this morning? I thought so. Sit back and relax and I will regale you with a horrifying tale of bad mediocre parenting.

At 8 o’clock this morning the Saint and I took Precious Oldest to the airport. She is leaving, with a girlfriend, for a four week jaunt through parts of Europe. They are, right about now, boarding a flight for London. They will visit London, Dublin, Galway and Limerick. Followed by Paris, Venice, Florence, Sienna, Pompeii and Rome. They will fly back to London from Rome June 17th and then back home the following day.

This trip is on their dime. They’ve been saving money for this expedition since their high school graduation. (Oh, Christmas and birthday gifts included sturdy luggage and many travel items, but still.)

We gave trying to rent them a cell phone that will work over there (it aint cheap folks) because our luck in that area from our past trips has not been that great; save for the Saint’s crackberry which is a work phone and thus not an option. Communication is going to be shall I say...spotty.

We’re hoping that starting with English speaking countries will help acclimate them before they have to deal with the French and the Italians. (My personal experience is that the French are far more difficult to deal with in terms of language. We shall see.)

Yes, I know there is a potential flu pandemic looming. Yes I know there are serial killers, rapists, pickpockets and general scumbags living in all of theses cities. Yes I know the only language the girls speak besides English is Spanish. And that they are not, in fact, visiting Spain.

I know all of this but we put them on a flight nonetheless. Because if not now when? In two years they will be graduating from college and presumably looking for gainful, full time employment. There will be many things, financial and otherwise, that will stand between them and a trip like this.

So we are letting go. And doing a lot of praying. I'm just sayin'.

Succinct

If a picture is worth a thousand words than this sums up, perfectly, our last four years with Precious Youngest:

Perfectly!

Graduation

Precious Youngest took her last final this morning. She left soon after for her Senior Retreat. Saturday is the Baccalaureate Mass and Sunday is Graduation.

The Saint and I each wrote a letter to send for the retreat. I bawled the whole time I was writing so I can't imagine what a mess I'm going to be by Sunday afternoon.

In the meantime, I'm keeping busy. Tomorrow we are hosting a joint graduation party for Precious Youngest and my niece. 80 of our nearest and dearest. The food is going to be awesome and of course since we are Catholic there will be a bar. Hush, we don't let the teenagers drink!

I'll be back with reflections on the past four years, but I'm afraid if I start now I'll never stop crying. Oh, and if you're in the neighborhood on Friday? Stop by, there's always room at our table!

They designed and produced the invite themselves - aren't they darling? Of course it looked better with all the pertinent details, but still!

I Remember

I remember how hard babies are: colicky, demanding, fussy, refuse to let you sleep babies.

I remember how hard toddlers are: tantrum throwing, stubborn, willful, refuse to be potty trained toddlers.

I remember how hard elementary schoolers are: drive them endlessly, absentminded, tattletale, know it all, “Hey mom, my science fair project is due tomorrow” elementary schoolers.

I remember how hard teenagers are: eye rolling, back talking, door slamming, "I want it now" teenagers.

But my God people, they grow up so damn fast. And if you’re lucky, if you did everything in your power to help them, teach them, ground them and set them free? You will remember them being this.damn.happy.

Observation

Last night Precious Oldest and four of her friends had a diner party for their high school debate coach. Their former coach is a gifted teacher and excellent mentor. She had a positive and undeniable and impact on these girls, now off at college in several states. She’s the teacher they all stop to visit when they come back to town.

I sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea while they the girls cooked; I was there for consultation only. They were pretty well organized and needed little help from me. Once their little party was under way the Saint and I went out to grab some dinner.

While we were out we ran into a few folks and didn’t return for a couple of hours. When we got back they were all still sitting at the dinning room table laughing and finishing dessert. The kitchen was clean, the dishwasher was running and they had fixed a plate for Precious Youngest who joined them when she got home from work.

Parenting is a hard job. This raising your children, from the time they are babies, to leave you. There is no grade card, no performance review. God knows your kids won’t tell you whether or not you’re doing it right. But there are moments. Moments when, as a parent, you realize you’ve done a good job. Last night was one of those moments.