Gradu-palooza -- the girl version!

So the girl in charge graduated from high school last weekend.  

 I feel old.  I ask you -- does this look like the face of someone who is ready to step out into the wide world? 

No?  OK -- how about this?

I know, right?

 [ The festive bow was after the fact, and I say -- too bad.  ]

While the mortarboard hat does make a definite statement, I think the bow shows way more fashion flair.  Call me crazy.

We partied it up for our girl, with balloons and party platters, and grandparents and aunts and godparents. 

My friend Saskia made this beautiful cake, which tasted even better than it looked, and strictly followed the girl in charge's instructions:  chocolate, with a side of chocolate, filled with chocolate and frosted with chocolate.  Please.

The bestie was there to make the day perfect.  It wouldn't be a celebration without her and her mom -- they make any party more fun!

So, yeah!  My girl in charge is already making her lists and organizing her minions as she prepares to leave for Emory University in the fall, but we're not going to talk about that because I can only absorb so many of these  moments when my life swings on a hinge and everything changes.  I don't really understand how parents make it through life without sobbing every day.

But we do.

Road Trip

Well, so a while back the girl in charge and I took a little road trip to Atlanta, which was one of the swellest trips ever.  I need to say that she is really just the most pleasant traveling companion, plus she was a great navigator while I was slinging the rental car around a city that can give the sucky Washington, D.C., traffic a run for its money.

We did a little sightseeing while we were there.  At the Georgia Aquarium, the girl in charge was ecstatic to see this sea turtle, which I took at least fifty pictures of because the dude was moving pretty fast.  I mean, he's a turtle -- who knew?  The girl in charge is pretty sure she would like to have a sea turtle as a pet.

The only creatures that gave her more happiness than the sea turtle were these penguins, because come on.  Look at 'em!  Aack! -- they're so stinkin' cute!

I, on the other hand, felt like I was going to pass out from happiness when we walked into "The World of Coca-Cola" museum.  I seriously almost hyper-ventilated.  Many of you already know that I love the red Coca-Cola with a deep and abiding love.  But you may not also know that at one point (before I married the husband) I had an apartment that was totally decorated with a Coca-Cola theme.  I say "decorated," which is generous . . . .  

 

I feel silly but somehow defiant when I describe how giddy I was when I entered the gift shop of this museum (a place that in the past I usually dreaded entering with urchins because of the "I want it, I need it, I have to have it or I'll die" disease that always overtook them).  I couldn't breathe, people.  I just looked over at the girl in charge, and she rolled her eyes, then cracked up.

Pathetic . . . .

We feel so lucky that we were also able to visit this sweetest of women, who is part of our beloved un-family, and who lives about a half hour away from the city.  It was so fabulous to spend time with her -- it always is.  And as it turns out, now I'm more glad than ever that she's there.

Because we went to Atlanta to visit the two lovely campuses of Emory University -- and confirmed for ourselves that this is the girl in charge's dream college.  And guess what we found out last week?!

Look out Atlanta!  Here she comes!

Snapshot: What do they have in common?

I can tell you what these three soldiers
have in common in just one word:

AIRBORNE!

Snapshot: One More Tall Boy

You know my own personal tall boy, and I have introduced you to my nephew the soldier as well. But my sister has another tall boy -- and he's the bomb-dot-com!

Headed to his first year at the University of Virginia this fall ("Wa-Hoo-Wah!"), he has spent the summer lifeguarding and solidifying his tan: the boy is brown as a bean! His dad is not sure why he's making that goofy face, but we're all pretty sure that this tall boy is all that and a slice of peach pie!

Step aside, middle school -- we're all done with you here!

So I don't know about you, but I find middle school to be a very tricky proposition, especially for girls. Academically kids are thrown into multiple classrooms during a day for the first time, and into courses that demand more and more of them -- and they encounter teachers who cut them less and less slack. On top of that, it seems like the "mean girl" phenomenon really kicks in to high gear right about 7th grade, and too many intimidated urchins who once said whatever was in their heads or on their hearts just shut down. Too many of them feel like they have to wear a mask -- all day, every day.

And then there's puberty -- that bitch! She whacks our girls over the head with so many changes all at once that I am convinced most of them feel itchy in their own bodies every minute of the day -- and then she stirs up a big batch of hormone stew that makes our sweet girls cranky and sad and giddy and worried and passionately in love and on the verge of tears -- all at the same time.

Middle school sucks.

And that's why the sunny girl is my hero. My tall and graceful ballerina has danced her way through three years that could have sucked her soul dry. Instead, she laughed, sang, twirled, and went rock climbing -- always knowing when to strike a dramatic pose.

She chose great friends and made good decisions and is more than ready to be a Bulldawg. Look out, C.D. Hylton High School: the sunny girl has three more days of eighth grade left, and I am here to tell you that she kicked middle school's ass.