Angels at their finest..........................................

So, at last, I AM A FREE WOMAN! Free from having to deal with the public school system that is. Unless, you consider that my check still has not been cashed. I am seriously thinking of stopping payment on the dumb thing and then letting them deal with it, but I probably won't.

Sunday was the big graduation event. It rained! I mean serious, huge downpours...ALL DAY!

My youngest has been soooo over school for some time now, and was not at all thrilled about the graduation ceremonies. She was much more into the pirate birthday party she was throwing for her boyfriend, complete with pirate pinata, frog pirate (that I made the WORLD'S COOLEST sword for out of cardboard, tin foil, and electrical tape), pirate plates and napkins, and pin the eye patch on the pirate. Apparently her boyfriend likes pirates.

About two o'clock in the afternoon (the ceremony didn't start until six) it occured to me I had not actually laid eyes on her cap and gown. After fifteen minutes of searching I found it, still in the box, under a pile of crap in the backseat of her car (also known as her third closet). Of course it would not have bothered her at all to pull it out of the box and wear it wrinkled, so I guess that means there are still a few instances where I care what people think about me.

The gown was white, and I thought it tacky to wear color under the white so along with pressing the gown, I had to find the white dress that she had decided to wear (for the first time in two years) the day before to a graduation party, and of course had gotten red punch all down the front of when the wind blew over her empty cup).

I had given instructions for the dress to be put down by the washer so I could pre-treat it properly and get the stain out BEFORE it was washed. When I went to do so it had mysteriously disappeared. Another extended search produced no dress, until it finally occured to me to check the (currently running) dryer. There it was! Helpful Mister had done the morning load of laundry and since it wasn't full had added the stuff beside the washer.

I will say again, he was being helpful. When I had ask him if he knew where the dress was, he claimed ignorance. When I ask him, (as I was pulling it out of the dryer right in front of him) why he had washed the dress when he knew it had to be pre-treated, he continued to claim NO responsibility, saying he thought it was one of the OP's shirts, and didn't know it was a dress. NOTE: The remainder of that conversation ( beginning with "Maybe one of the dogs did it?) is better left for another post, another time!

I don't dry 100% cotton in the dryer, but thanks to my angels, not only was the dress the same size as when it went in, all of the stain had come out without pre-treating. IT'S A MIRACLE!

Fast forward to twenty minutes before we are to leave and my youngest hasn't returned from her party as of yet. I will confess to feelings of why am I caring about this, let alone taking time out of my life to attend when it is obvious that the true participant could care less about it all?

I used to do all kinds of things that I didn't care to do, because of "how it would look" if I didn't do them. I have weeded most of these things out of my life and it felt weird to be in that place again.

We made it out the door only ten minutes late, and with my youngest all together except for wet hair, but since it was still pouring rain the wet hair didn't seem to be too out of place. As we were driving to the graduation location (why they could not have simply had it at the school, one block from my house is anyone's guess. Another thing I didn't get to be in charge of...) I turned on the camera and turned around and took a picture of the soon-to-be graduate. When I attempted to take the next picture, "Change the battery pack" flashed on the screen and the screen went dark.

THIRTEEN YEARS OF PICTURES AND THE CAMERA MALFUNCTIONS FOR THE FINAL CHAPTER!

Pretty much sums up the story of my life!

Not easily daunted by tragedy, I fired up the video camera. My youngest leans over the front seat and says, 'Mom, that little symbol means that battery is almost gone so you might want to save it for later since it is all we have."

Maybe, had I not been so focused on preparing her clothes it would have occurred to me to check the cameras before leaving the house?! NOTHIN I can do about it now.

As we entered the auditorium we found my youngest's best friend and her family as planned, WITHOUT ANY EFFORT (how often does this happen to you? In my life...NEVER!). I told the mom about my camera issues and she assured me they had plenty of camera's, so this helped me to relax a bit more.

We ended up getting seats in the row immediately following the graduates, and my youngest's seat was two to the left of ours. Perfect photo op, don't ya think?

BUT HOW WOULD I KNOW, being cameraless and all?

Because, about thirty seconds before the start of the ceremony, the friend's mom passed a camera down the row of twenty people between us for me to use. Now, if that isn't my angels taking care of me I don't know what is.

So, I have lived to see all three of my children graduate from high school. Being an orphan I take this as a pretty great accomplishment. I am a proud, proud, mother!

A funny P.S. to the story is after the ceremony, we were in the lobby taking a few family photos with the new grad. After we had gotten one with each of the assorted crew, I got a "Change the battery" message on the borrowed camera, and it went dark as the other's had. Either my angels were saying, "Count your blessing and don't be greedy," or I had just lived my very own version of Cinderella and the time had come to turn back into a cameraless, regular mom instead of a rescued princess! You decide...