Class of 2026

 My middle child graduates from high school in less than 7 weeks.  I have known the date of his graduation for the past year and yet it just hit me all of the sudden.  I have had his graduation announcements sitting on my desk since mid-February.  When I ordered them I didn't think they would be arriving until around now, but they came in early.  So they sat there, unopened until a few weeks ago.  I keep thinking that I should have checked them to make sure they were okay when they first came in, but I told myself that I was the one who designed them (okay, I used a template) and I knew that I had a digital version of them, so yeah... why open them when I didn't need to do anything with them?  

At the beginning of March, I started googling "what do I need to do for my kids graduation?" And "when do I need to send out graduation announcements?"  Somewhere in there I started talking to my kiddo about what he wanted as far as a graduation open house or party.  When our oldest graduated, we had a big todo.  The family came down from Chicago (we only lived 2 hours away from them at the time), we had friends over, I took my Mom out of her memory care facility for the day, my Uncle and Dad even came and celebrated with us.  It was a pretty perfect day.  

My middle child, though... He's a different beast.  I want to celebrate him, but he's really not social (he's more like my wife that way) and while he does have his core group of friends, they're not the "party" type.  He's doing the whole grad night and going to Prom (no date, but there is a group of them going) and he really does play his social life close to the vest.  He has a pretty good idea of what he wants to do this fall, but we're not pushing him but rather encouraging him to find his own path.  While I would love to shout from the rooftops how awesome he is and how proud of him I am, he's not really a fan of that.  So, I am having to tone it down.  I'm letting him take the lead and letting him show me what he wants.  

Parenting is really hard.  Especially when they get to be this age. So, let it be immortalized here on my blog that I'm ridiculously proud of my son. He's grown up to be this good natured, incredibly empathetic and kind person who will help out anyone who asks and does so happily.  He feels very deeply and will stand up for what he believes is right.  He rolls with the punches and also rises to any challenge to the best of his ability. 

You have grown into an amazing young man and you're just at the start of your journey.  Your mom and I will always be here for any advice you may need.  You're going to be amazing on whatever path you choose.  Congratulations and we love you oodles of poodles.