WOW

So John has finished all his classes and finals. His 12 years of school have ended. I went through his room today and threw out all his school related notebooks, papers, binders, assignments. There is nothing in his room left of those 12 years other than yearbooks, and shortly a diploma. It's over. I really can't believe it. He is done. Finished. No more report cards, school lunches, poster boards, projects, back-to-school shopping, open houses, meeting teachers... Where did it all go? How can it be that 'my little johnny' is ready to fly the nest? Here is John on his very first day of school(so sweet!) and on his very last day of school. Twelve full years.....

Graduation Weekend for Jimmy

The previous four posts show pictures of our weekend with Jimmy. Check them out if you have a few moments. We had a wonderful time. It went by much too quickly and now I am back to my usual life. BUT.....we have another graduation this coming weekend! John is graduating from Highschool. I am planning his celebration. Stay tuned!

The end of the day

We went to Georgetown on the waterfront for dinner after visiting the townhouse. It was so relaxing. Jimmy talked to Aunt Ali on the phone for a while. We so wished she could have been with us. It started to get dark after dinner so we took a taxi to the Lincoln Memorial. The night was warm and still. The memorial was lit up as was the Washington Monument which then lit up the reflecting pool between the two. It was 10 pm and people were still visiting President Lincoln on this late Sunday night. It was hushed and many of the men were in suits. Very surreal. And lovely.
The first few pics are at the waterfront. The middle ones are on the steps of the Lincoln. The second to last one is me sitting on Einstein which is Jimmy's favorite 'monument' in DC. If you stand right in front of him with your toes on one certain spot you can hear your own echo but no one else can hear it. Very interesting. The last picture is Jimmy hailing a cab for us. I particularly enjoy watching him hail a cab, of all things-lol. He has those long legs, he goes right out into the middle of the lanes of oncoming traffic, throws up that long right arm and gives a loud shout. He is confident and aggressive. I love that. I love him.

Jimmy's new place

After graduation we all went out to lunch, then Jimmy took me, John and Uncle Jimmy over to see his new place. He has rented a brownstone with 2 other guys for the next year. Anyway, we were running late as we were supposed to meet at 6pm at the new place. The other parents were going to be there so I could meet them. It was now 6:30 and we had many intersections to get through to get there. Jimmy drove like something I had never seen before :) Whipping around corners, speeding, going right on reds(not allowed), it was truly shocking-lol. My brother and I were in the back seat alternating between horror and hysterical laughter. I did manage to get a couple of pics. John was in the front seat and we never heard a peep out of him-not quite sure if he was in shock or thought this was normal driving in Washington.
Anyway, we got there in one piece and in time to meet the other families before they left. The townhouse is nice, Jimmy is thrilled with it. He plans to purchase a large grill for the backyard. The other 2 guys were good and it is helpful that I can now picture in my mind where he will be living for the next 12 months. It is very hard for me to get to Washingon because of Sarah's needs. I was only able to actually attend this graduation because my sister was generous enough to stay with Sarah for the weekend. I wish they both could have come with us.
As I told my sister, Ali, I was teary leaving Sarah for the weekend and then teary leaving Jimmy at the end of the weekend. I will never be completely happy again. My children are no longer under the same roof-waaaaaaaa.

The Big Day

Included in these pictures are myself, John, my brother Jimmy and Jimmy's dad-'Slick'. The ceremony for George Washington University took place on the National Mall in front of the Capitol. It was at 10am and lasted 2 hours during which it sprinkled a bit of rain and the sun also shone brightly. We are all so proud.

Here we go

These were taken the night before Jimmy's college graduation. We flew down to DC that day. I hadn't seen him since Christmas. He was wonderful. His 'true colors' are absolutely beautiful to me. Like a rainbow-as Cyndi Lauper says :)
Let's see...the pictures above show Jimmy and his girlfriend Samantha, another with his great friend Dan(aka- 'Bartlett') and then Jimmy helping John with his tie and finally me and Jimmy. Oh, the pic in the middle is Jimmy giving his approval of the 'congratulations' dessert at our very fancy dinner.