Graduations

I had the honor of seeing two people I think the world of graduate this week. The first graduation was my sister-in-law Hillary's graduation from Dunmore High School. I met Hillary four months after Bill and I first started dating at the end of her eighth grade year in 2004. When I met her, she was a sweet teenager who immediately welcomed me as a member of the family. Over the past four years I have watched that sweet teenager grow into a caring and smart young woman. Hillary has been through more crap than a teenager should have to go through and I am so proud of her for graduating and going on to Penn College in the fall. Congrats Hillary, and as you move on to college remember ...you're Dunmore, it's what you do :) While I was in Dunmore for the graduation, I also got to spend some quality time with my nephews Josh and Jeremy when I took them to see Kung Fu Panda. Taking them to the movie was part altruistic (The boys wanted to see the movie and Mary did not want to see the movie) and part selfish (I wanted to see the movie). However, it was the first time I got to spend quality time with just me and my new nephews and it was really special to me. I also got to see my three month old niece Alanah. She is adorable! I know I'm biased but she is so smart already. Seeing her really got my biological clock ticking but before Bill and I have any babies, we have to have jobs where we can afford to take care of ourselves. Oh yeah, and then there's the small matter of convincing my loving husband that having a baby wouldn't be the worst thing since Nazi Germany. But that is a different blog for a different day...

The second graduation I went to was at Key Center, the school I taught at for four years. I went back to Virginia and Key because when I left four years ago, I said that no matter where I was I would come back to see my student Catherine graduate. Catherine is one of those once-in-a-lifetime students. When she was assigned to my classroom in the fall of 2000 she was 14 years old (same age Hillary was when I met her). Catherine was very shy and barely said two words the first half of that school year. Sometime after Christmas break that year, Catherine started talking up a storm. Now you can't stop her from talking! Her parents gave me a lot of credit after the graduation for Catherine becoming the social 22 year old she is now but I don't really think it was anything I did. I think she was just ready and it happened to be that she was ready when I was teaching her. I had Catherine in my classroom for all four years that I was at Key Center and it was a privilege to be her teacher. Congratulations Catherine! I know the people at your worksite will love having you as a worker as much as I loved having you as a student.

Here are some pictures of the two graduations and my cutie niece:



Hillary



Me, Jimmy, and the graduate



Bill, Me, and Baby Alanah



Catherine