Graduations day

It was Friday the 13th and it was graduation day, or more precisely, graduations day. 

Big brother congratulates Samuel 

In the morning, Samuel graduated from Earl Warren Middle School.  It was "bring your own lawn chair" casual, with some great singing by three teens.  If I had closed my eyes, I wouldn't have known 14 year olds were singing.  They were that good.  I will miss this middle school.  The only word to describe this school is "chill." Every time I arrived on campus I began to relax.  Was it the sea breeze?  Was it because everybody looked like they had just returned from the beach?  Was it the tired but homey 1954 architecture? Whatever it was, I will miss the vibe.  After an hour of effortless ceremony, we packed up our lawn chairs and left to get ready for the big graduation ceremony.  

Benjamin points toward the future for his grandparents.

Benjamin, after some serious senioritis (and consequent nagging from his parents to make up that Statistics test, already!), donned a cap and gown and marched out with his nearly 700 other classmates at Torrey Pines High School at 4 p.m. on June 13, 2014. Amazingly, all 600+ senior names were read out loud. Three enthusiastic readers team- tagged the names, reading each name in turn with real excitement.  My hats off to those thespians.  Even more cleverly, the names were NOT read in alphabetical order.  That way the ginormous crowd in the football stadium was forced to pay attention until the very end.  I call that good planning.  And then it was done.  The seniors all moved their tassles to the other side of their caps and let out a big whoop.  After a meet and greet on the field (see Marlene and Sherman with the graduate above), we asked Benjamin where he wanted to go to dinner. Some place expensive perhaps?  No, he had a hankering for an In-n-Out Burger. It was just as well.  When he's off at college in Tacoma, a thousand miles away, there will be no In-n-Out burgers to be had.