Check it off the Life List!

Done. The last child has graduated from high school. Bittersweet moment.

But more sweet than bitter.

The feeling I have is ...........aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

The graduate's cap waiting to be donned.....

As of Friday, I had done nothing towards planning Will's graduation get-together. I hesitate to call it a "party" because it was 11 family members only. Not a wild party crowd. Will spent his Saturday hitting 3 parties so I think he was perfectly fine with just family. Plus we had to squeeze it in between church and leaving for the ceremony.

I ordered fajitas from Lupe Tortilla's for lunch......

We watched Will open gifts........

Laundry basket full of towels, a first aid kit, a clock, a blanket

and a little of this and a little of that....

Even the dogs watched......of course, they had to be held.

We had 3 cameras going.....and a video camera. Poor Will.

He got his robe and gown on.......
whoops.......I mean cap and gown.....

(my nephew Jack caught that mistake and reminded me we don't end sentences with prepositions.....thanks, Jack....I owe you something. Heck I owe everyone something.....and I said robe and gown.....because I love sleep so much that I couldn't say gown without thinking robe.)

We headed to the ceremony..........

We like to do things "BIG" in Texas. At the risk of being obnoxious.

Cousin Mark, Sister Jordan, Cousin Jack.....gave up their day for Baby Will......

And then we watched this for 3 hours.......uh,huh. 3 hours.

985 graduates waiting for their 30 seconds on stage.......

But this part was worth it all.

This moment is full of emotions......

relief, sadness, happiness, hope, regrets, wishes and dreams.

High school graduate with his sisters. These are the two girls that helped raise him. He should make an awesome husband some day.....as he is certainly used to girls....or being henpecked....however you want to look at it.

And then we came home for dessert. There's a local bake shop that makes their own ding-dongs....2 layers of chocolate cake with creamy filling, dipped in heavy fudge. It's a diabetic coma looking for a place to happen. Each ding-dong is huge and can feed at least 4 people.

But I needed 6 of them so I could spell out W I L L 0 9.........
would any of you like a piece of leftover ding-dong?

And then........the young man that just graduated

from high school.....

had told us all afternoon

that he felt like Harry Potter in that red gown.

And so it was inevitable.

He grabbed a bamboo cane

out of one my floral arrangements

and turned into Harry Potter.

Proving you cannot take the boy out of the man.

Poof! He's all grown up! Like magic!