A good night

Last night, my daughter graduated from high school. We found out Thursday night that she is valedictorian of her class, and her closest friend is salutatorian. Since her high school is a home schooling extension program, the graduation was held in a Baptist church in a small city at the center of a rural region. The graduates sat in the choir loft, and in the chairs normally held by the preaching staff sat my beautiful girl and her beautiful friend. Each was presented a trophy for her achievement, and neither had to give a speech. C. also received two trophies for awards in Science and Math achievement. All of the graduates were presented with a Bible as well as their diploma, and we joked that they should have given C. a basket so she could carry all of her stuff. Oh, I did love that extra little nice touch of presenting all the grads' mothers with corsages.

Family and friends were there in force for her. My closest friends, the two S.'s and their husbands, my brother-in-law, his wife and my nieces, mother-in-law, her sister and her best friend since their preschool days, the boyfriend and his parents were all there, and my sister, her new husband, and my nephew made a six hour round trip for the evening. The keynote speaker, a legislator who has been a champion of homeschooling, turned out to know my sister. They were in the same graduating class at our old high school.

I was really touched that C. chose to wear a tie tack of her father's on her dress. It was a sterling silver crest of the state of Tennessee. He received that on achieving 15 years of service, and she wanted to wear or carry something of his that had meaning for him. He had been proud to be a State employee. He saw it as a true service, not just a guv'mint job, and we're both proud of him for that.

Afterwards, about 16 of us headed to C.'s favorite Italian restaurant, and it was simply wonderful. The conversation was great. I was afraid of some histrionics from my mother-in-law, but she kept her self-control. The people who barely knew each other feel like friends now, and S., her husband and I are looking forward to spending an evening with my brother-in-law and his wife.

The best thing that happened was that C. has decided that, though late in the season, she's going to apply to more colleges. She'd pretty much decided to go to a community college her first year. There's nothing wrong with that, but I felt that she would be shortchanging herself because she has just so much potential. Last night helped her see that she can do more.

I could not have asked for a better evening. Life does keep going, and it still holds hope, happiness and joy.