The Graduate

Owen's high school experience was not exactly what we would have wished for – it started during a pandemic, and spanned a period filled with a lot of loss and trauma. But despite some enormous hurdles, Owen persevered. He made some incredible friends, discovered a love of law and policy, played a lot of cello (and realized that that's not what he wants to do for the rest of his life), and became this fully formed person, who is one of the most generous, inquisitive and supportive people you'll ever meet.

Owen's graduation is kind of bittersweet. I'm thrilled to celebrate this person who spends so much time uplifting and celebrating others, even if it means stepping aside in order to let them shine; but the idea of celebrating Owen graduating and preparing for the next stage of his life, which will invariably involve him becoming more independent and separate from us, is kind of a bummer. So while I'm incredibly proud of all that he's accomplished and excited for all that's in front of him, the idea of him venturing out into the world, away from us, makes me sad.

But for now, we're going to focus on the joyful side of Owen's graduation, which was an amazing ceremony with two of his best friends serving as valedictorian and salutatorian, performances by each of the Departments, and the Instrumental Music graduates being serenaded by the band as they received both an official alumni jacket and their diplomas (the other departments had much quieter receptions and no outerwear awards).  Mom Mom joined Allen, Noa and I (we were only allowed 4 tickets) for the ceremony itself (which started at 10 am but the call time was 7:30 am which made for a long, morning...). The graduation itself concluded around 12:15 pm, but then we needed a full 30 minutes for pictures (though we lost Noa after five). Once we finally collected Allen and Owen, we headed back to our house to meet Don before heading to St. Anselm for a celebratory graduation brunch (Noa opted to sleep instead). Afterwards, I started preparing for Owen's party the following day, while Allen and Owen stopped by Gabriel's to see him before he headed to Europe, and then stopped by River's graduation party.

We were late in planning Owen's graduation party and so sort of drew the short straw – the 11 am to 2 pm Father's Day slot. Still, we woke early and began prepping. We made breakfast casseroles and a pancake/sausage variation of pigs in blankets (which worked better conceptually), ordered bagels and donut holes, and filled out the menu with fruit salad, various baked treats, and a variety of both adult and non-adult beverages. We also made a 30 minutes slideshow dedicated to Owen's life through graduation which we had playing in the background.

It wasn't a huge party (again, 11 am on Father's Day...), but we had close family and friends, and a lot of Owen's classmates stopped by too. Owen dutifully greeted each person and worked the room before he and his friends departed at 2:30 for the next graduation party...

We spent the rest of the day cleaning up and reflecting on it all – how far Owen has come, how proud we are of him, and how curious we are about the next chapter about to unfold...

(To see all the graduation pictures, click here.)

Prom-ises

Back in seventh grade, Owen was set to play in the middle school baseball playoffs, when Stuart-Hobson had to forfeit because the game conflicted with the eight grade dance. Owen was crushed, and swore he to never attend a school dance. And he didn't (although COVID might have played a role in that).

But then senior year came around and Owen's good friend Rosemary's aunt decided that Rosemary needed an appropriate escort to the prom and that Owen was such an escort. Since neither Rosemary nor her aunt brook dissent, Owen conceded and duly purchased a ticket to prom (or rather I did) and ordered a corsage and boutonniere (actually, that was me again). And while he didn't partake in the mocktail hour or the actual dancing portion of the evening, he was game for all the pre-prom activities and photo-ops which his friends graciously shared with us.

(To see all of Owen's friends' prom pictures, click here.)