Our Grandchildren's Graduation From High School

The last two weeks have been full of proud moments for grandparents.  We had our two oldest grandchildren graduate from high school.  Our oldest is a girl named Melissa.  She loves to sing and act.  It started when she was young.  She participated in the Missoula Children's Theater and has been in school performances since 7th grade.  One of the ladies who does the costumes for all the plays, made this pillow.  It has eight pictures on it, one for each play she was in during the four years of high school.  They did one musical and one drama per year.  It is a treasure.

This year was especially fun for her.  She got a first rating for a solo at the State Solo and Ensemble competition.  She sang 100 Ways to Lose a Man from the musical Wonderful Town.

She also sang a solo (When I'm 64) and duet (Cover Is Not the Book from Mary Poppins Returns) at the final performance of the choir she was in.  Then came graduation day.  She is ready and her parents are ready but for me it's hard to accept she is done with this phase of her life.  Hopefully there are good times ahead with college and work and friends.

Our second oldest grandchild is Dylan.  He is 10 months younger than Melissa, but also graduated this year.  Dylan plays in the high school band and the saxophone group he was in won a first rating at the State Solo and Ensemble competition. 

This spring he  played Ali Hakim, a Persian peddler, in Oklahoma the Musical.  He's posing afterward with his little brother Ewan.  Ewan dressed as a cowboy for the performance.  I also see acting in his future.

Dylan's real love, however, is Math and Physics.  He is a person who uses both sides of his brain.  He has the artsy side and the math and science side.  Within the past year he has traveled to Cal Tech to work with NASA on a project and to Seattle to work on an Astronomy project.  He was valedictorian so he got to spend the day at Lambeau Field in Green Bay as part of the Best of the Class sponsored by a Green Bay television station.  Various kids will be featured on this station throughout the summer.

Leading up to graduation was a band concert, awards ceremony, tennis banquet and other finales to an awesome high school career.  His mother isn't quite ready to let him go off on his own, but I believe he is ready.  Fall will bring many new adventures and opportunities in college.

Then last weekend my daughters had the graduation party.  It was a combined party on a beautiful day and many people came to celebrate.

This spring has been very busy but fun.  It was a new experience for my husband and me.  Hopefully we will be healthy enough to experience this with the rest of our grandchildren.  My one regret is that I didn't get pictures with us and the graduates.  So much was going on, we missed that photo opportunity.  We did, however, get pictures of the M & M's.  It's all about priorities.

  Now it's time for everyone to enjoy the summer before they are onto their next adventure.