Graduation!

 May whizzed by and concluded with a bang: Julia's graduation! I still feel like I'm eighteen and people still tell me I look like I'm eighteen, so how we are the parents of a high school graduate I do not know. 

Nin and Opa came up for the event and Kinsi, Rori, Alexander, and Beau came down for it. We love pomp and circumstance--both the song and the grandeur--and Gabriel was an absolute angel baby for the ceremony, so the event itself was lovely. The weather could not have been more perfect, and there's nothing like throwing squishy plastic burritos at each other on the count of three to make for a good party. Justin wrote a poem for Julia to commemorate the event which we printed in her yearbook and also sent out with her grad announcements. It went like this:

Julia Graduates

 

In kindergarten Julia C.

Loved Mrs. Checko and KB.

She smiled and gave her locks a twirl

When Billy said, “You ridin’ girl!”

 

At Löcknitz she spoke Deutsch with flair

In Class 2C with Frau Seffert,

Then rumpused like a lightning bolt

Till all her friends cried, “Abgeholt!”

 

At Spring Glen (if the day was fine)

She sighed and said, “It’s Latin time.”

At Northridge she made boys’ hearts swell,

Then left for Foothill’s A.L.L.

 

In Music Man she stole the show,

And OCJHS cried, “Whoa!”

But her true passion and delight

Was grammar with the Mennonites.

 

So that her social life might thrive

(and even thrust to hyper-drive),

Her folks taught logic (fallacies)

And whisked her off to Italy.

 

Then Julia (seeking some redress)

Enrolled back home at THS.

She soothed the T-Wolves’ savage din

Through MDT and violin.

 

Her words were always kind (not vague);

She effloresced (despite the plague).

And now, at last, her schooling’s through

(Except, alas, for BYU).

Only the most assiduous and dedicated readers of this illustrious blog will be able to catch all the allusions and, thus, appreciate its true genius. A hearty thanks to you. Singular. 

With a nod to Julia's time in both Germany and Italy, we headed to Grove Station in PG for Doeners from Rimmel's food truck and Italian sodas. The drinks far outstripped the dinner, unfortunately, but the location was lovely. Julia then headed to a park for fun with friends before grad night, Beau and the Bollingers headed north, and the rest of us went south to recover from the day's festivities. I also listed our blessed suburban on KSL and Facebook Marketplace since it wasn't making much sense as a kid commuter car and, with Julia about to enter the workforce as a research assistant on the Wilford Woodruff papers, we didn't need a car to fit everyone for just running about town anymore. 

Other posts have been dedicated to the miracle of the suburban, I believe. It was truly a "give us this day our daily bread" experience, and I must say I was glad to be at the end of it. We had prayed at the outset for a car that would fit our whole family and be able to haul around the harp until Julia graduated. Either I priced the beast perfectly or the Lord has impeccable timing, because just minutes after Julia arrived home from grad night at 6:30 a.m. someone came to plunk down forty Benjamins for a big hunk of metal they could proudly call their own. We owned that car, quite literally, just until Julia graduated.

This made us think hard about what sort of vehicle to pray for next! We sold the little harp we had thought of saving for Elinor (she's going to play the viola instead) and put that money toward a new kid car as well. After a ton of research, many Carfax reports, and several outings, we finally settled upon a 2008 Toyota Corolla with 105,000. The used car dealer hadn't priced it yet, so they very obligingly set the price at something that came out to $7,000 after taxes and registration were added. Our monthly gas budget feels like it should be a Jenny Craig commercial!