She Graduated!

Yep, my little cousin-- who I held when she was less than a day old, who I learned Barney songs for, who inspired me to scour every gift shop in Scotland for a perfect school-age memento, who has blogged her teen ups and downs so well that I felt that I wasn't missing too much-- that cousin, she has graduated.

I will pause for you to ooh and aah over how gorgeous she is, even while taking a picture.

We got up on Saturday morning and found Grandma all dressed and ready to go at 8:30 for an event that didn't start until 10. I could probably learn something about punctuality from my grandmother-- but I won't. I was in desperate need for caffeine, but Grandma only stocks tea for me & I'm usually a decaf girl. So, a quick run to Starbucks (gotta love small towns, where everything is five minutes away) and a pickup of my mum later, and we got to the high school in time to see the seniors march in. Yep, we almost missed Pomp & Circumstance. Almost. I sang along as we climbed stairs to find a seat. And got all teared up, of course-- did you see the bit about how Amanda was a baby last week??

I don't think this is technically Amanda's gown. But this is what it looked like.

The speeches were enjoyable and the reading of the names was speedy-- I don't think I've ever been to a graduation where the list went by that fast. Or perhaps time is just on fast-forward now that I'm getting older.

Amanda's favourite teacher read out her name, which I think is pretty cool. And he read it sooooo slowly-- apparently he pronounces the silent "e" at the end of her last name as a general rule, and was worried lest he should do so at graduation. He did not. And that was it! Thirteen years of school for the two seconds it takes to cross a stage. For some reason, it felt longer when it was me.

At this point, Chad began to motion to ask me if we were leaving (we had some errands to run & didn't intend to stay for the entire thing). I signed back that we were waiting to see Paula & it only took five tries before the message was received. Or-- more likely-- he was feigning misunderstanding to see me repeat myself four times.

Paula. I've known of her existence pretty much since Amanda started school, although I think I first met her officially at our Grandpa's funeral, when some of Amanda's friends were kind enough to come to the viewing. She is a lovely young woman, and I think it would be hard to dislike her even if I didn't already like her for being Amanda's friend!

So, once we got Paula safely across the stage, we left as quietly as possible (heels + bleachers = bad) to get out of our dress clothes, buy graduation cards, and head to the open house. And what a party it was.

We took a couple of lookalike pics-- this isn't one of them, because in the lookalike pics I have my hair down & glasses off. But I think the resemblance is there, even if Amanda did get all the tall, pretty and non-pink genes. I frequently think that various family members are crazy for pointing out our similarities, but I can't deny it-- we have far too many mannerisms in common to be anything but relatives. Scary what genetics will do to you!