then and now

I couldn't decide what to wear last night, but in the end it didn't really matter. The evening wasn't about me, or us - it was about our kids.
Last night our little girl graduated from high school.

Not so much a little girl anymore, eh?! The trouble is, she's quite short (sorry, Sweetie, but you are!) so she still feels like a little girl when she's mooching around the house. But last night she was all dressed up and made up and suddenly she and her friends all looked like adults.

It was weird how many memories the ceremony brought back. The youngsters were so boisterous, full of heckling and clapping and wolf-whistles, and generally being rowdy 18-year-olds.
You remember being there, don't you? I know I do; like it was yesterday.

There were some lovely moments: one of the girls read a poem she wrote about this time in their lives - talented young lady, I have to say. There was a 'ceremony of light' where some lovely things were said.
And then there was the headmaster's address... the man had lots to say, I gotta tellya. Some of it was pretty insightful but I couldn't help wondering if he couldn't have said some of it during the 6 years the kids were in his school, instead of saving it until then. The audience got awfully fidgety towards the end; the kids had their certificates and they wanted to go party!

And, of course, there was the "I know you don't think so now but one day you'll back on your school days and wish you were back there, because they are the best time of your life" speech.
We all heard it.
Some of us believed it.
I didn't.
If attendance at my Valedictory Service hadn't been mandatory, I wouldn't even have gone, and when it was finished I walked out with a huge grin on my face because I was done with school.
I said then that I would never miss school, that I would never wish I was back there.
It turns out I was right.
So kids, don't believe everything your headmaster says.

Now my days at College, well that's a different story entirely...!

If anyone is looking for me...

I'll be here:


I don't care that my Winter ass doesn't fit into my summer shorts anymore or that my lily-white limbs will reflect enough sunlight to speed up global warming.
I need a holiday.
I need sun.

I'll tell you all about it when I get back :-)

Be good!
xxx

'tis the season

I'm pleased to announce that Winter finally appears to have relinquished its grip on us. Yep, true to form the May bank holiday weekend brought us good weather. Yesterday I even sat outside in shorts for about half an hour, trying to get a little colour on my pins before I frighten all the locals away with blinding whiteness in Greece next week.

Speaking of long weekends... did everyone enjoy theirs? You did? Fantastic :-)

On Saturday I took Cinderella shopping in town, to find something for her to wear to her high school Graduation in a few weeks. It was a long and tiring process but successful. We found a striking little red number that I'm sure Hubby thinks is waaay too hot for a Graduation. Mind you, he always has that one-eyebrow-raised-questioningly look when he sees her in something sexy. I guess he has trouble seeing his little girl looking all grown up, hehehe..!

By the time we got home from the shopping I had developed a headache that then morphed into migraine that finally went away some time while I was asleep last night. So although I know the weather was fine for the long weekend, I didn't exactly get to enjoy it too much. Apart from the half hour in the sun yesterday (which I knew I shouldn't do but it was the first hot day of the year and who knows when, or if, we'll get another???!) I pretty much slept for the rest of Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
So much for the weekend of writing that I was looking forward to...

But I'm sure there will be other good-weather weekends. The seasons changed... and just when I thought it would never be warm again!
But of course with the warmer weather come other things. There's a certain, erm, shall we say 'mobile' community in this country who migrate to the seaside towns in the Summertime. Stuff tends to go missing around this time. You may remember that poor Cinderella had not one, but Two motorcycles stolen from her last year..?
Well it's that time of year again.
This morning we awoke to find her brother's motorcycle gone from where it had been chained up with the rest of them, outside our front door. My poor stepson has only had the thing for maybe a month, if that.
I don't want to dwell on this too much because I don't want to get all worked up; it's no way to start the day. Let's just say the temptation to lay in wait overnight with a loaded shotgun is REALLY strong.

I think I have had enough of this now.