Theo, our seventh grandchild (of 9), graduated from high school this May. Kathy and Annette came to town for the event and we all met at Theo’s home for lunch. The first thing to do was admire the bookcase Dean crafted from an antique piano that would have required a major re-build to restore it to working condition. Kari couldn’t use the piano, but she didn’t want to get rid of it, so Dean disassembled it and used the pieces to build a bookcase. The soundboard forms the back of the bookcase, the piano legs decorate the front, and the flat surfaces of the piano provide shelves. The project isn’t completely finished, but Kari is happy to have a place to set shoes when people enter the house, a shelf for some books, a surface for display and, still, the essence of her piano (see the pedals).

We started our time together with lunch, prepared by Dean, who provided the group with a taco bar.

May is graduation month, but it’s also a great time for our family to celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and a bunch of birthdays that occur between late April and mid-May. On this day, we celebrated birthdays for Kathy, Dean, Kari, and Theo, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Theo’s graduation. Whew! There were gifts for all of those events, and we opened them and shared conversation after lunch.

Here’s the guest of honor for the day, opening a birthday or a graduation gift. (I can’t tell from the photo.)

Before long, it was time for Theo to put on his graduation robe and head for the high school. Kari helped him adjust the stole and his honor cord. Theo graduated summa cum laud, and his honor cord signified that one of his teachers selected him as the best student of the year.

Theo’s girlfriend, Lizzie, needed to leave early as well because she’s in the school orchestra and was going to be playing for the graduation ceremony. The kids are ready to leave and take their places at the high school.

The grads are seated and we’re all standing and ready for the national anthem before sitting on the hard, backless benches for the next two hours. I don’t have anything new to say about graduations. As the speaker at my doctoral graduation said, “No one remembers graduation speeches”–and that’s all I remember from his speech. There were a lot of speakers today–School Board members, faculty members, students, etc.–and I don’t remember anything any of them said.

Finally, it was time for the Big Show, when the students receive their diplomas. Here’s our favorite student of the day.

I think the most fun of any graduation ceremony is the celebratory feeling of throwing the mortarboards in the air at the end of the event. I taught GED and supervised a four-county GED program and, every June, we had a graduation ceremony, complete with robes and mortarboards, for those who had achieved a GED certificate during the previous year. After one of those ceremonies, one of the students said to me, “I just want to throw my cap in the air so-o-o-o bad!” I told her to go ahead, so she and all those around her did it and whooped with joy, just like these high school kids. High school graduation–at any age–is a milestone in our lives.

We were close enough to easily see Theo leaving the gym, but with all the noise, he couldn’t hear our group calling his name while he talked with a friend.

Back at the house, it was time for the traditional pictures. Here’s Theo with his proud parents, . . .

. . . his grandparents, . . .

. . . his aunt Kathy and Annette, . . .

. . . and, finally, with the whole group. Theo’s brother, Dylan, took the picture.

There was some down time before we enjoyed the after-ceremony dessert, so Annette and Dean got to work on Kathy and Annette’s car. The air dam below the front bumper partially fell off while the girls were driving today. The piece is not essential to operating the car, but it reduces wind resistance, improves fuel efficiency, and enhances high speed stability. Since the piece was already partially disconnected, Dean and Annette took the entire thing off. Now the girls won’t have to listen to it dragging on the road while they drive home.

Then it was time to eat cake! Theo baked a made-from-scratch chocolate cake and added a gnache chocolate filling. Mmm-mmm good!

Kathy and Annette needed to leave for home (a three-plus hour drive); the rest of us enjoyed a graduation dinner at Fratelli’s restaurant. It was a delicious end to a wonderful celebration for our seventh grandchild.

The following weekend, Theo’s brother, Sky, came home for a weekend visit, so Ted and I had another opportunity to visit with Kari’s family. This was the first time we’ve met Sky’s girlfriend, July (pronounced like Julie). The boys have good taste in girlfriends–all of us gave both girls (Lizzie and July) our stamps of approval.

Family fun is always the best way to spend our time. Our eighth and ninth grandchildren are currently 9 and 4 (almost 5) years old, so we’ll have other kinds of family fun before that. We’ll start by seeing Kathy and Annette again in June while they’re here for a conference, and in July, we’ll spend five days with Jeff’s entire family (Jeff and La, their three children, their daughter-in-law, and their two grandchildren). Good times!