Dear Reader:

This will be a short post today because I had a l-o-n-g day yesterday at Eva Cate’s Graduation Day Ceremony . Remember I told you I was packing a lot of Kleenex for the tears I knew I would shed… and I did as they sang their last song but honestly I needed the Kleenex more for pure perspiration… I mean serious heavy ” sweat” running down my face.

Time did ” expand ” as the sun rose higher in the sky over our packed lawn chairs… on a squishy terrain where my white pants turned to speckled gray. I tried ” mind over matter” imaging and remembered some high school graduation ( I recently caught on the news) that took place in Colorado amid a freak snowstorm … for just five minutes I would have traded places.

But look at that face? What we do for love? This was my first grandchild whom I feared I wouldn’t live long enough to see born… coming two years following heavy cancer treatments. And now time has contracted and I can’t remember a time when she and my four other grandchildren were not in my life.

Since I was a middle school teacher and simultaneously a parent raising three children who all attended the middle school where I taught… I am well aware of the pitfalls and joys of the ” Wonder Years” … the eye-rolling, exaggerated sighs, and comments like ” Mom… you can just drop me off here ( two blocks before my middle school) while I would try not to break out laughing… ” Hum.. have you forgotten I teach here too?”

I wouldn’t want to repeat those days again but a sense of humor goes a long way during these trying years! The awkward middle school years are painful but a necessary bridge to cross to self-exploration and finally acceptance.

So until tomorrow… School is never out… the final bell might ring, summer holidays and graduations might come and go, expand and contract… but until we take our last breath… we live, thus we learn!

Guess What? Today is the first day of June… unofficial summer has arrived and you know what else it means? ” Rabbit! Rabbit!” May June bring you pauses of pleasure and fun memorable time with loved ones!

Today is my favorite day. Winnie the Pooh