Thanks everyone. The kids are ok, thank goodness, but it was terrifying to see my 15 year old just pass out on the road. My husband also got an odd diagnosis having nothing to do with the crash when the doctors were checking him out after, and that’s another layer of scary to deal with. Though it’s only three years old, my car has well over 100,000 miles (thank you gymnastics) so the insurance company has already floated the idea of totaling it, which is terrifying because we can’t afford to start over on a car payment when it would’ve been paid off in a year. My kids being ok means that it’s all workable though.
@ninakatarina I am so so happy for your son! I’m sure he would have made Gettysburg work, but it just seemed like he would thrive somewhere a bit more out of the ordinary. (Note that I’m not knocking Gettysburg. I have an S24 who I think would fit right in there and be completely happy.)
What an adventure for your son and your whole family!! W&M has a joint program with St. Andrew’s so I’ve met kids who spent 2 of their college years their and loved it. They thought W&M was old at 326 until they realized that St. Andrew’s is 606! Many congrats.
@milgymfam so glad your girls are alright! Sounds like a lot to deal with at once, though. I’m sure you’re taking care of everyone, so remember to give yourself a little TLC.
oh my gosh, @milgymfam so sorry to hear about the accident. glad your girls are okay and keeping fingers crossed that your husband’s odd diagnosis might be a false alarm. hang in there…
Sorry about your accident @milgymfam I hope it works out with your insurance. I’m glad to hear that your Ds are OK, albeit shaken up, and I hope that your H’s diagnosis is something which isn’t serious.
@ninakatarina Huge congratulations! One of D’s best friends will also be going to St Andrews and is extremely excited about it!
@ninakatarina I’m still beaming about his news! On the passport front, definitely pay the extra money to get it expedited. Go online and it will explain. Our experience has been that there are a few things that need to get put in place that require the passport so it is best to get that done ASAP.
Graduation was yesterday afternoon. Family dinner in the evening. Son got to the all night grad party and decided “nah”…went to his girlfriend’s house and baked cookies and made some art with her parents. (Her mom is a professional artist.) Very anticlimactic but given the ride he’s had the last four years that was perfectly fine. 
We leave for a family trip to Utah/Colorado on Saturday…a week of outdoor activities (hiking, mountain biking, canyoneering, rafting). Cannot wait. Begin his move to Montreal at the end of the month. The empty nest is coming fast.
First world problem. Went to the local bakery to get a cake and cookies with the Amherst and Mac logos for the kiddos graduation party this week. Turns out, they won’t do the logos or even the names of the colleges on the cake or the cookies because of copyright protections. They would do it if I get an email from the Amherst and Mac licensing offices with approval.
I think I’ll pass on that.
The bakery has the copyright for the three state schools that most kids here go to and a portion of the sales go to the schools.
Anyway, we are doing purple, navy blue cookies/cake that says congratulations and good luck in MA and MN.
BTW, does that mean I violate the copyrights by using the logos on my Avatar?
@milgymfam Glad everyone is OK !! That’s unfortunate the car might be totaled.
@ninakatarina see it all worked out in the end, just as expected :).
@EganAg I would eat the cookies regardless if they have logos or not. I’m sure most guests will too. Don’t sweat it !
@SwimmingDad I would like to tag along with you on your trip!!
@MWolf. fine performance by your D, congrats. Sounded like a nice way to finish.
Son19 is done, finished it all up yesterday. Kind of anti-climactic graduation for us. It was hectic as usual afterwards and we just came home to a small party for family. It was pleasant. Then son left and went out to a neighbors house and then came back home with a pile of kids and they all slept in the basement. Good teenage time!
In sporting news, son19’s relay team did indeed rally and unexpectedly qualified for New Englands meet in Maine next week and for Nationals in North Carolina in 2 weeks. So he will be training for the next couple of weeks and just enjoying being a teenager a bit longer. We are going to end up missing some grad parties to drive to a track meet, so that kind of stinks.
In depressing and terrible news, one of my son’s teammates/classmates and neighbor of ours had a parent pass away, totally unexpectedly the day before graduation. Ughhhhh. The kid still went to graduation and got his diploma and I cannot imagine how the kid found the strength to do that. Amazing. That was the only part of the graduation I teared up at. The timing of it, just so unfortunate.
@momzilla2D thanks for posting about your daughter’s previous experience with Gov Ball. D19 actually wanted to go when she was a freshman and I said no. Cue typical teenaged begging, pouting, etc. When she came home on Saturday, she thanked me quite sincerely for not letting her go back then. One of the friends they were with got really freaked out over the mud/vomit and the crowd in general and they ended up leaving in an Uber and walking across the park to the Met. I don’t think they’re going to love frat parties or college bars! But good for them to try that atmosphere and know when they’ve had enough and how to safely get out.
I would think that is okay- you’re not selling anything. The bakery on the other hand would be making a profit off of the logos.
@SwimmingDad cookies and art sounds like a nice post-grad activity! Have fun on your vacation, we’re leaving for the Smoky Mountains Saturday.
@milgymfam Glad to hear family is ok! Accidents are scary. Sorry re the car and insurance though.
@RightCoaster Ug. I would have been crying all through graduation for that kid.
S19 had graduation last night. It was great and many family friends came. It’s a small school (70 graduates) so every kid got a little description of their accomplishments and where they are going to college. S19 was giddy at graduation which was cute. Then they had the all-night school sponsored party. S19 decided to do a ‘fear’ challenge at the game place (because you could win $$). He made it to 3rd and won $60. He got knocked out at the worm eating round because he was too slow (he ate the worms just not fast enough). He was bummed because he thought he could have eaten the next challenge (a Madagascar Hissing cockroach that was very alive and quite large) and gotten 1st or 2nd. Ack!
It’s possible. My alma mater (not in the US though) actually has some blurb about not using its logo for anything other than official university stuff (I remember this from when we used it for thesis submission). That said, I doubt colleges are trawling CC to look to prosecute people for copyright infringement!
Hi, I’m new here and my dd is graduating hs on Saturday. She is passionate about Theology and plans to attend John Paul The Great. Catholic University in the Fall. Anyone here have kids who attended this college? I’d love some feedback on it if you have.
@EganAg If you did violate copyright, I’ll help you dispose of the evidence. 
So, yesterday was commencement, and, suddenly, I no longer have a high school student at home. Suddenly, high school is over. K-12 is over. For 13 years we have had school mornings, homework, PT conferences, report cards, school awards, class schedules, monitoring grades, dealing with absences and sick days, and everything else that is involved with having a kid in school. Now it’s over.
Next time my kid steps into a classroom as a student, it will be in college.
Anyways, the graduation, unlike everything else this year, mostly worked out great - upper 60s, sunny, speeches were great,etc. However, since something had to go wrong, their live-streaming messed up. luckily, they recorded it and it’s available on Youtube.
My aunt and her family came over for the graduation. She’s my mother’s baby sister, and only 9 years older than I am, and my cousins are in their 20s. The younger one has a very close relationship with my D (only 7 years older than her). My cousin stayed to visit possible graduate schools, and took my D with her on campus visits (they look enough alike that they could easily be sisters). Afterwards, they had some fun in Chicago.
I think that we should make this a group effort - it takes a village to get rid of tasty evidence!
Been away for a little bit - trying to catch up on all of the posts. @ninakatarina - That is wonderful news! My neighbor’s son went to school in Scotland several years ago and had a wonderful experience. Good luck! @milgymfam - Sending you hugs and hoping you are all doing ok. @MWolf - Sounds like a really nice celebration despite the live-streaming snafu. Graduation is so bittersweet for me. The end of an era… @SwimmingDad - Enjoy your trip! @EganAg - I too will help you dispose of the evidence. @RightCoaster - Congrats on the sporting news!! Such a sad, sad story. @carolinamom2boys - Congrats to your graduate! And to those of you who had kids at GovBall this weekend - so glad it is over!
A happy aside from my day- mt D has been tutoring a friend who was “sure” to fail senior year. She and one of the coaches at her gym refused to accept that and teamed up- the coach tutoring math and D everything else, and today he found out he passed all his SOLs and is graduating next week! She was so happy for him!
@milgymfam That is awesome. Your D’s friend is lucky to have somebody like your D in his life - somebody who not only cares that much for her friends, but believes in him enough that she was willing to put the time and effort into helping him.
An odd thing about the past week - I’ve received more than 10 Facebook friend requests from my kid’s friends and from my kid’s friends’ parents. For the four or more years I’ve known them we’ve lived online lives separately, but now that we’re losing the real life link they’re reaching out to stay connected virtually. I’m glad.
I lost track of so many people when I made my own transition from high school to college. Part of the fun of the dawn of social media was tracking them down/being tracked down and discovering what they had been up to since then. These kids will have a continuing link, and I will have a continuing link to them.
I am glad.