Thursday, May 22, 2008

Graduation Day

Eleven years ago this week (May 19, 1997 to be exact) I graduated high school. Here is Lindsey, myself and Keeley on the night of of my high school graduation:
While I am thankful for the great education I received, I hated high school and was ready to get out. Shortly after graduation, I went to Wrightsville Beach, NC with my family. Great trip… but if I had realized they were starting to film Dawson’s Creek (one of my favorite TV shows in college and still one of my guilty pleasures) I probably would have appreciated it more. But I digress.

Also right after graduation, I went with Lindsey and her family to Disney World as a part of my graduation present and to help watch Lindsey and her sister Keeley. Here is a picture of Lindsey and Keeley 11 years ago (sorry for the pictures of pictures)
This past weekend it was time for someone else to graduate. Someone who has grown up too fast and makes me feel old. I can remember what I wore, what was said that day eleven years ago when I graduated and when Lindsey seemed so small… and now Lindsey has graduated.

This past Saturday night, a few of us came to her family’s home to celebrate the occasion and wish Lindsey well. I didn’t take many pictures but here is a self photo Lindsey took of us (she does that a lot... and they really aren't the most complimentary pictures of me). : What can I say... she's a spaz but I love her. :-)
After we ate she told me she had something she had to show me. In her room up on her mirror she had two photos of us – this one that she took with my purse camera a few months ago...

...and another one I wouldn’t show you if I could. :-) It had to be when she was two or three and I was 13 or 14. This is not the picture but it would have been around this same time frame. And trust me my hair was even worse in the one she had:
She laughed and said we have come a long way – her from no hair and me from really bad hair. I could not argue with that.

Then on Sunday afternoon the big day arrived. I ran out of the auditorium before the ceremony started to see where the graduates were lining up. Was Lindsey nervous? Of course not. She was too busy posing. Graduation went off without a hitch and after the ceremony we found a very happy graduate.

So congratulations to Lindsey who is off to face the world. I am very proud of the girl who I have known since she was nine months old, who endured my babysitting for years, who still shares a pew with my family at church and in some ways reminds me of me and that more outgoing person I sometimes wish I could be. No matter where life takes us, she will always hold a special place in my heart. This fall, life will be taking her to college in Mississippi and a whole new, exciting phase in her life will begin. I know she is going to do great things and enjoy every minute of it.

4 comments:

Amberly said...

What a sweet post! Love the old pictures! Congrats to Lindsey!

originalbryan said...

Good Lord I feel ancient. I accept only the oldest of those photos. They rest are fake! Fake I tells you!

Totallyscrappy said...

The self photo had me laughing. For some odd reason, I'm always snapping self photos, too. And they are always less than desirble!

Anonymous said...

What an incredible friendship!