Wednesday, May 25, 2005

The Next Day

Normally, I get up at 6:30a.m. and Paul gets up at 7:00. But this morning we were both awakened at 7:30 by Ben in his school uniform exclaiming, "Aren’t you guys up yet?" Today is his last day of school and I guess he didn’t want to miss it.

The van is still full of graduation gifts, plates of tortilla rounds, and balloons. A huge spray of flowers that graced the front of the church last night now sits incongruously on the kitchen island. Amy the glowing graduate is still sleeping, her lovely agonized-over wine-colored dress no doubt draped limply over the back of a chair.

This is the flip side of the hype and excitement and preparation and pomp and glory: this indescribable fatigue, the letdown, the mess.

This is the cost of celebration. But it was worth it. Amy and the others will never forget that night and how it all came together—the speeches, the clothes, the decorations, the food, the gifts, the people who came to congratulate.

And will someone please, please tell me how that tiny pink little girl I used to have turned so quickly into a young woman getting her diploma?

Quote of the Day:
"It feels like the morning after."
--Paul, shuffling into the living room at 7:40 this morning

1 comment:

  1. To answer your question, "One day at a time...while you were busy with the rest of life."

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