Thursday, May 29, 2008

I'm old and I have new hair...

Tuesday evening I went down to Wilkes to go with Julie and Philip to give out the scholarship in Vicki's memory. They were both really nervous and having kind of a hard time with the day. That family has just been through so much and I pray that their troubles are over and they can move on, not forgetting their past and their memories, but keeping them close to their hearts to bolster them up when they are having a rough day.

Julie was super nervous, but she didn't throw up, which is always a good thing! They started the ceremony with the Madrigal group singing "Joshua fit the battle of Jerico". Julie and I made faces at each other from across the room. That song is a staple in every high school chior and 10 years later I can still sing it from start to finish without the words in front of me.

Then came the endless list of presenters. I have to say I still get annoyed when the same kids go up over and over and over again. I truly thing ceremonies like this are kind of cruel. They only recognize a handful of students and make the rest feel like crap. And a month from now no one is going to remember except the honored students and their families.

Finally, Julie got up to give her speech. She spoke beautifully, but unfortunately the student wasn't there. Bummer! I know they were both disappointed. Apparently the school doesn't require students to come and about half the senior class was missing. Oh well. Julie conquered her nervous stomach and she gave her speech with vigor. Vicki is smiling down from heaven at her beautiful daughter.

Julie giving her speach


So after Julie presented, she looked at me from across the room and asked if I wanted to go. No I said, there is someone here I wanted to see (I'll get to that in a second). Well, I thought that the program was almost over. Julie was next to last on the presenters list and we could wait another minute couldn't we? Well, she came over to sit with us and kindly pointed out to me that she was not next to last. They had a whole other list of presenters on the back of that stupid program. Holly Cow! I decided that I could say hello another time. So we devised a plan to sneak out. When the next presenter got up we were going to leave. Well, I guess I wasn't paying attention because all of a sudden Phillip punched me in the arm to go. Umm... Ouch! I was trying not to laugh all the way out of the gym. We left and Phillip took us to eat at Village Inn. YUM!! All around a good night.

So who did I want to see at the end of that gruesome ceremony? Miss Ellie McCabe, that's who. Ellie was the first kid I ever baby sat. Way back when. I knew she was a senior, but I was a little shocked to see her in her cap and gown. Kind of a reality check for me. Did I mention that she's about a foot taller than I am? And she was one of those kids that got called up all the time. I know I complained about that earlier, but I can't say I didn't swell with pride a little ever time her name was called. Congratulations Ellie!!!

Ellie, receiving one of her many awards


On to Wednesday!
I got my hair cut yesterday afternoon. I'm not super excited with how it turned out. It isn't a bad cut, just not what I was looking for. I couldn't find a picture that was really what I wanted, so I just kind of tried to tell Kari what I was trying to go for. Clearly, Kari needs a picture. So next time I won't make my appointment until I can find a good visual representation of what I want.