<p>ZITS!!! love that cartoon…like the one were she says to grow up, but not too much</p>
<p>Wanna hear a funny bursting into tears story? I am not a cryer, on the whole. However, when pregnant with my son I went on a trip to Rome with H, D, my sister, my sister’s then BF. We went into St. Peter’s. Well one look at the Pieta, the Madonna holding her dead son Jesus in her lap, his dead hand still clutching the folds of her dress, and I started to sob uncontrollably. I should add I knew I was having a boy child. And that I am not even religious. The Romans were a little nonplussed.</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietà_(Michelangelo[/url])”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietà_(Michelangelo)</a></p>
<p>I think I may have told this story on cc before. Hmm.</p>
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<p>Well, I can cry pretty easily at times. It was really pretty unlike me not to be crying like crazy when we left my son at school, but I think it just hadn’t hit me. When I made that silly comment about not seeing my son’s car parked in front of the place he worked, the floodgates opened, but it was such a silly moment, I couldn’t help but to laugh too.</p>
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<p>A five month relationship for a 12 year old must be some kind of tweener record! I hope she’s feeling better now.</p>
<p>More tears for the velveteen rabbit…</p>
<p>And there have been pleanty of tears as I’ve attended one year-end event after another.</p>
<p>It just hit me last week how little time I’ll have with my son before I take him to college. He’ll be gone for 7 weeks out of this summer, and then home for one week before we go to orientation. I realized that in spite of the fact these last weeks of high school seem hectic and crazy, I need to soak it all in.</p>
<p>
Alu~</p>
<p>Can <em>DEFINITELY</em> imagine that being one of <em>those</em> moments! Pregnancy certainly can render you emotionally vulnerable. I couldn’t TOUCH Robert Munsch’s LOVE YOU FOREVER during ANY of my pregnancies! :)</p>
<p>Hi there…My oldest daughter (17) is graduating this June and is leaving in October to go to school in NY ( we live in So Cal). Well, like the previous posts, last weekend at her final performance ( she was the lead in a musical…she is going to be a musical theater major) it hit me…My kid is leaving soon and won’t need me like she has for the last 17 years…ugh…I haven’t stopped crying since…It’s driving my family crazy! I do have 2 other daughters, 15 and 12 who will keep me busy. But I am very close to my 17 year old. Any suggestions on how to get past this emotional time? Everytime I think about her leaving, I feel sick to my stomach. I have been a stay at home mom since she was born so I am even questioning who I am now and what I am going to do with the rest of my life…does that sound crazy?? I am starting to get irritated with myself!!!</p>
<p>Another one of ‘these’ threads! If I get this emotional reading everyones’ posts on CC (my goodness, FireBad!), I can only imagine what the real-life goodbyes are going to be like… </p>
<p>And Berurah’s OP makes me wish that I had charged up the videocam a lot more over the years. What a beautiful gift.</p>
<p>As I said on another thread, I’m going to miss D2’s big HS awards banquet (this one is like a prom that parents get to go to… all James Bond “007” theme) to attend D1’s University research presentation because we will miss that one’s U graduation in favor of little sister’s HS graduation. (Distance between events is in the 4 digit range) Tonight I finally got all the events lined up and discovered that I will also miss the final high school music performance! I started crying right then. At the first concert we attended in that auditorium, D2 was in kindergarten and laid her little head in my lap and fell asleep before her brother came on stage. How can I miss her last show? (She says it’s no big deal, and to her it isn’t. She’s more interested in all the friends coming home from first year at college.)</p>
<p>I have one graduating from college and one graduating from HS. The next 6 weeks are full of ceremonies, award nights and parties. This whole process has made us weary. It has been a happy, frustrating and very sad year. The children have lost both their grandfathers, the last one a few weeks ago. Our hearts are broken that they will not be there for the big celebrations. We must carry on. It hurts though, real bad. They were both a major part of their lives.</p>
<p>nikkiboo~</p>
<p>
First of all, sweetie, {{{{{{{gentle hugs}}}}}}} to you. Your post really struck a chord with me because it reflected exactly the way I felt two years ago when I was facing the prospect of my son’s leaving for college halfway across the country (which is only HALF as bad as what YOU’RE facing–your D is going ALL the way across!!! :eek:) Like you, I am very close to my oldest son, and the thought of his not being a part of our daily lives for most of the year was very disconcerting to me. I, too, have other children–five younger than my oldest S–but as much I as truly adore and cherish ALL of my children, one or two (or five) other children cannot make up for the sense of loss that you feel when any other of your children leave for school.</p>
<p>I am happy to tell you, though, that my anticipation of my S’s leaving turned out to be much worse than the actual event. I am sure that you will find what I have found…that there are enough breaks during the college year that your D will be able to come home frequently enough to give you something very special to look forward to. For these first two years, we have brought our son home at EVERY opportunity, fall break weekends included. I am not sure what the next two years will bring, but these past two years have allowed us to ease more slowly into the idea of his being gone for longer and longer periods with no time home. </p>
<p>I think the “lasts” of the end of the senior year feature and emphasize the poignance of this time in your child’s life. Yes, there are endings–and new beginnings too, but as you get through the remainder of these “lasts” and begin the constructive work of getting your precious D ready for her new adventure, you will see that this whole time is much more of a continuum than two periods with well defined beginnings and endings. And you–and she–will begin to look toward her very bright and exciting future of pursuing her college dream.</p>
<p>CONGRATS to your D on having the lead in her last h.s. play!!! My D finally achieved that too this year, and it was a really special time for our family.</p>
<p>I wish your D and you all the best as you watch your first baby girl take this significant step toward young adulthood. Be gentle with yourself, okay? You are entitled to every single emotion that you are feeling right now!</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
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dragonmom~
:eek: Shades of my life??!!??!! My third child is scheduled to graduate in two years when my oldest will graduate from college <em>sigh</em>. I’m sure we’ll have some wacko schedules and difficult decisions ahead! I do know how you must feel about missing your D’s final music performance. Our D ended her h.s. choir career in style tonight at the last showing of the pops concert. After it was over, ALL of the seniors were in tears! <em>sniffle</em> Your description of your D’s sweet little head in your lap all those years ago definitely gave me my own tears! CONGRATS on both the college and the h.s. graduations!! Many happy times at your house right now! :)</p>
<p>janesmom~</p>
<p>Oh, honey, I’m <em>SO, SO</em> sorry that your family has suffered the loss of both grandfathers this year and that neither of them got the opportunity to share in the joy of your kids’ upcoming graduations. It must be such a difficult emotional time for you as you deal with the grief of your losses and the joys of your children’s marvelous accomplishments at the same time. I am certain that both your father and your FIL will be with you all in spirit if not in flesh, and I can only imagine how very, very proud they both would be at their grandchildren’s achievements. Wishing you peace and comfort in the days, weeks and months to come, and many congrats on the two upcoming graduations. {{{{{{{{hugs to you}}}}}}}</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>This thread makes me a bit nostalgic for “losing” my last kid at home, too. But then there are incidents that make me happy this portion of her life is coming to a close.</p>
<p>She brought home her yearbook yesterday. She’s only been here a year, so neither of us were surprised that she isn’t in any candid photos, didn’t get picked for anything special. Not surprised by the 17 pages of football and cheerleading (not counting associated homecomings), and the one page of orchestra (that she isn’t on.) The kids recognized for going abroad over Spring Break, but not the kid who lived there 3 years.</p>
<p>And I pointed out to her that her brothers, who were there all four years and high achievers, also didn’t get anything. (Eldest graduated 4th, with a ton of achievements. Middle was given the highest award for the incoming Juilliard class. But neither was “good enough” for any yearbook awards - or any school awards for that matter.)</p>
<p>Out of curiousity, I looked through the bios and photos of the “outstanding seniors”. I was pleasantly surprised to see that of the 27 chosen, there was some variety. Only about half would qualify as “most popular”. There were a couple who are brilliant. A couple who are sweet. There were also a couple “why in the world?” What suprised me was the introduction, which began:</p>
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<p>It goes on to define what they considered outstanding. And essentially disses everyone who didn’t get picked. Usually, there is some sort of apology for not being able to recognize everyone who is outstanding or something like that. No equivocation this time. You either have it or you don’t.</p>
<p>So when I get teary-eyed about what I am losing, I balance that with what my D is gaining by being done with highschool!</p>
<p>Thanks for letting me vent. It’s been a tough year and I’m ready to move on.</p>
<p>binx~</p>
<p>No whine or cheese <em>or</em> sour grapes in your post…just very normal emotions that anyone would be entitled to feel had <em>her</em> TRULY outstanding child been overlooked in such a fashion. 
You have <em>NO</em> idea how very much I can relate to your post. Or maybe you DO, after our yearbook fiasco of last year (I guess my kids could have gotten a full, two-page spread if they had “achieved” getting knocked up or gettting a tattoo or gotten married right before our winter formal <em>rofl</em>).</p>
<p>Two years ago I started a thread about this when my son, the only kid in his class to apply to and get accepted to any elite school (and the first in our school’s history to go to Duke), got overlooked repeatedly,when the selection of the graduation speeches was based on whose daddy owned what business in our small town (needless to say, my son lost out there too 
), when the counselor whom I asked to help out with my S’s app. said, “Well, I don’t really know him, but if you asked me to help with SO AND SO’s (one of the guys who got to give the grad speech), I could because he’s gone to my church his whole life…”, when not ONE academic award or accomplishment was included in our yearbook but the above-mentioned things were (and as an added slap, the preggo spread was under the section entitled “Academics, Striving for Excellence” :eek:). At the time I posted this two years ago, several posters chose to rip me to shreds for feeling that my son deserved <em>any</em> recognition from his school. And I still remember fondly those who defended my feelings (until the thread was <em>poofed</em> into oblivion ).</p>
<p>{{{{{{{Gentle hugs, binx}}}}}}} As one who’s experienced this myself, I <em>know</em> how frustrating it is to see this kind of stuff go on. But as you know from your older sons, kids like them and like your D will go on to bigger and better things quickly, leaving some of the undeservedly featured kids in the dust. </p>
<p>People have said to me, “Just think…to some of those kids who were featured to the exclusion of YOUR child, this MAY BE the biggest thing that ever happens to them in their lives, and for your child, it’s just one small accomplishment in a life full of them.”</p>
<p>While I understand that sentiment, it neither justifies the action nor mitigates the raw feelings of the ones who should have been honored, at least not at first. But, down the line, I <em>have</em> found some comfort in those words as I watch my son continue to excel at college.</p>
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THAT’S THE SPIRIT, sweetie!!! 
:D</p>
<p>Hang in there, honey. I SO wish that your D had been recognized by her school. She truly deserved it. And CONGRATS, binx, on your third and final high school grad!!! What an utterly tremendous accomplishment for YOU! :)</p>
<p>love, ~berurah</p>
<p>Binx- you are not the only parent who is thankful to see the high school chapter come to an end, it is truly a bitter-sweet time.</p>