<p>@ordinarylives I agree- a terrible choice of gift. I firmly believe that no one should ever give a live animal as a gift without the express approval of the recipient. I think it borders on cruelty to animals, really, since the animals’ lives are at stake if the recipient doesn’t know how, or care to, take care of them properly.</p>
<p>I am glad you’re going to find someone who wants them and will care for them. You might also try the pet/animal forums on Craigslist.org. (Craigslist>Community>Pets)</p>
<p>@ordinarylives - Birds - Wow! I imagine there were a lot of shocked looks on guests’ faces when she received that gift. Hope the hs aviary works out.</p>
<p>I have two guesses about the birds as gifts. One, were they possibly from someone of another culture, where birds are considered a good luck gift? Two, and this is probably more likely, the poor little things were being re-gifted. I hope the aviary idea works out. </p>
<p>@calla1 Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one whose S marches to a different social drummer. He’s convinced his social life will be just fine in college. Maybe he’s smart not to put himself through the awkward uncomfortableness of tuxes and unfamiliar social situations any sooner than he has too – though I think it would build character :-)</p>
<p>@12dandelion I had the same thought – the live birds might have been a well-meaning good luck gift from another culture. I’ve been Googling, however, and can’t find evidence of such a tradition. Still, I’d assume it was good intentions. Crowlady has kept small songbirds before and they can be rewarding. A friend of mine had a parakeet in her dorm room, who became something of a mascot. But I agree it is best to find a willing, non-college home for them. </p>
<p>Birds? Seriously?
We battled S14 all weekend over finishing Thank You notes to people who sponsored him in a community event. Thank goodness they are done , the floor in his room is no longer strewn with every article of clothes he owns, his senior project is done , and he cheerfully said goodbye to me this morning. It’s going to be a great day!</p>
<p>The birdies have been delivered to the high school biology teacher for his aviary. He’s pretty happy to have them. At first we thought maybe the birds were a good luck gift, too. There is a rarely practiced custom of giving birds to then set free, but one would give a bird that could be turned loose (inexpensive and native to the local climate). Canaries would never survive. Huge waste of money. It’s also not something H has seen done here in the states. This morning, however, I changed paper, gave fresh water, etc before taking bird 1 and bird 2 up to the school. Clearly,these birds were not recently purchased–or cleaned. Someone was tired of her pets? Doesn’t matter, I guess. Birdies are gone to a place where they will be well cared for and enjoyed. </p>
<p>Good morning all - the fire danger seems to have passed for now in SoCal. So now we’re back to worrying about regular stuff again. My D is also strongly introverted (unless she is on a stage, then she is the biggest ham in the world) and has not had much of a social life through HS. This year she has a really nice group of smart & fun girls she is part of - they all went to dinner & prom last week as a group & apparently had a blast. I am proud of her for “embracing” her introvertedness & not trying to go against her nature just to fit in. And for taking her time to choose friends she truly likes & fits in with. It took me to about age 35, maybe even 40, to achieve that. Unforttunately, she’ll have to start over again in college. Freshman year may be tough, but she’ll be part of the choir/music crowd & that will help.</p>
<p>In other news, I got my long hair chopped off very short this weekend. A bit of an adjustment, but (I think) I’m glad I finally did it!</p>
<p>@GertrudeMcFuzz – you are a brave woman! I got my hair cut recently, but not very short. I’m sure it will be fun and breezy when the weather gets hot.</p>
<p>More yucky stuff with ex (won’t bore y’all – how’d that sound? I’m hoping to blend in down in Charleston). I try to focus on the positive. They had “senior day” at the baseball game for the 2 seniors (S and his buddy). The coaches gave a speech; wished them well; they gave the moms flowers! I’m looking at them now. S got cleared so he was able to play. All is good in the world.</p>
<p>@crowlady - it wasn’t until this grad stuff with my d that I realized how much my son skipped out on and didn’t tell us about. He’s got his own drummer as well. He was so sick of high school and so ready to move on it made me feel badly. However, he has really come into his own in college, found a great tribe of people and has hung onto the few special people from childhood. I’m a much more socially conventional/pleaser type, so it’s hard for me to understand this deeply introspective introvert. Right now i’m trying to deal with his sleeping until noon and needing a haircut so badly. sigh I have had a lifetime of learning to love the kid on the couch.</p>
<p>How I ended up with the biggest introvert and the biggest extrovert is beyond me. I’m pretty much just in the middle so they both confound me sometimes. </p>
<p>Just got back from NOLA and S1’s Tulane Law School graduation, which was a proud and joyous time. Waiting in the mailbox was a letter for S2, informing him he had won a State AFL-CIO scholarship! $1,000, and his first yes after 3 no’s. A nice welcome home!</p>
<p>Wow @Classof2015, my S14’s baseball team had “senior day” last week, we have 14 seniors, I think coach is worried about next year. It was nice, the players wrote something that was read and each mom got a flower. It was nearly 100 degrees that day so the flowers were not looking too good by the end of the ceremony, but it was still very nice. There have been so many “lasts” recently. Last baseball game, last AP test tomorrow (make-up), last prom is next. So far I have avoided getting teary around him. :)</p>
<p>My D14 is so happy to be done with HS. I would love to be done with high school too, but I have one more year with D15. The lasts this year for D14 are anything but teary. I suspect it will be the same next year.</p>
<p>I get teary thinking about what’s ahead. I’m so proud of D14 and the opportunities she’s been able to make for herself. </p>
<p>Been busy working and prepping for graduation this friday – not sure how it is possbile that she is graduating on Friday??! Also had some fun social engagements this past week, and more coming up this weekend. Nice change to not think about college or high school for an evening!</p>
<p>D14 is actually getting more involved in HS activities than she ever has during her four years there. She’s engaging with fellow students that she’s never really gotten to know previously, and I’m thinking, “really, now is the time you decide to really connect??”</p>
<p>@ordinarylives – glad you found a good home for the birds – and add me to the camp that is completely stumped why anyone would give birds as a gift (excluding a known bird person where maybe it was previously arranged). especially to someone who is going off to college. That’s just nuts. </p>
<p>Today was S14’s last troop Court of Honor. We have a troop picnic still, but taking that last troop photo, as is the tradition after every court of honor, got me teary. Also, our Scoutmaster is “retiring” as of the troop picnic. His wife and I were the den leaders for our Cub Scout den so these two people have become like family to us. I sat with her tonight and our eyes were leaking a couple times. </p>
<p>Tomorrow is the last day of high school. Unbelievable, really. </p>
<p>@Classof2015 - I think you’re ready for Charleston! :)</p>
<p>I too am wistful reading many of your stories. There is no fun or winding down in our household. D is working so hard (at least she is feeling better) to get her assignments completed. A few year end projects (some for 20% of her total grade) aren’t making it easier, but she’s hanging in there. It was so different when S graduated. Although he is shy, he excelled in sports and had a social group of friends. (Described by his college roommate as a “closet nerd”) At the end of his senior year, he was doing prom, picnic, banquets, parties, etc and looking forward to his senior trip to the Bahamas. D has been “over HS” for awhile, and it’s not her nature to do the big group thing. Still, I feel like she is missing out and I am sad for her. She simply has no time or energy for anything else if she hopes to graduate. I told her I would treat her to a spa day when she finished her work. That seemed to cheer her up. </p>
<p>@ordinarylives - Congrats on graduation! And finding a home for the birds!! That gift has to go down in the record books!</p>
<p>DD is mostly done! Honors Night was last Thursday and then the Seniors had Friday off. She received her Val medal and was happy with her awards - now she needs to write her speech! We had a busy weekend with her final voice recital and going to see her hometown friends take prom pictures on Saturday followed by a season wrap up party for her theatre group and auditions for the summer show on Sunday! She finished her final math project last night and that’s basically it! Graduation practice was yesterday morning and another tomorrow morning but since she doesn’t have to take exams, she’s mostly free now but waiting for other friends who had to take exams or who still have sports practices.</p>
<p>Her prom is Thursday night and the weather isn’t looking great. The patio and landscaping is finally done along with stairs (today) from deck to patio so no more jumping off. It all looks great and I’m just hoping we can actually use it for picture taking and the weather cooperates!</p>
<p>Congrats to all our kids who have worked so hard this year and are finally seeing the light at the end!</p>
<p>Finally got the tickets for graduation – they made the kids run around all morning getting signatures from various teachers and staff (both HS and the CCC) which took hours, and then when the kids got to the office for the final few signatures from the tech person and the VP, they were told the staff was done doing signatures for the day, and they’d have to come back tomorrow. It’s never been an issue in previous years, but there is a new Principal (who oversees 3 schools and isn’t making points with anyone that I know of) and new VP. The VP took over this “Senior Checkout” day and turned it into a huge mess. The VP wouldn’t give the tickets for graduation until the kids get all the signatures – and of course, the kids don’t have time to deal with this every day. D14 has college classes all day tomorrow into the evening, and then grad practice Thursday morning before heading off to the Grad night at Disneyland – once she goes to school Thursday am, we won’t see her until we get to graduation. Thank heavens one of D14’s best friends is a very forthright young woman, who isn’t afraid to address issues with adults. She led a mini student revolt and in the end the VP capitulated and everyone got their forms finished and got the tickets for graduation. </p>
<p>The whole thing makes no sense to me – I never had to run around getting teacher signatures to graduate. The teachers filed their paperwork, and graduation was approved or not, depending on the teacher report. Assume this is a budget cut thing – get the kids to run around rather than pay staff to do their job.</p>