God Bid Yesterday Goodbye

Me and the girls after Coadster's graduation.

So, first please allow me to have a little vent. I just found out that it's going to cost me $450 to get the brakes fixed on my car.

Dear Universe,

Could you please let me get through a month without a costly mini-disaster? I realize these could all be real disasters and much, much worse, but I would still really love to have at least one month off without termite invasions, car problems or pipes freezing. Thank you.

Love, Churlita.

Okay, on to Saturday...It all started out well. I ran, took the girls a few places, came home and finished mowing the lawn and cleaning and then got ready for the graduation before I picked Stinky up from work. While at the store, I got the rest of the shopping done. When we got home, my aunt, my sister, my niece and one of Stinky's best friends were all waiting for us. We quickly changed and jumped into the car and headed to Carver Hawkeye Arena.

The throwing of the hats.

The arena smelled like livestock, and we later found out there was some kind of wrestling gig there, and apparently wrestlers smell like stinky horses now. Who knew?

The ceremony was nice and emotional and the principal gave a very pointed speech about the kids sticking to their guns when they know what they're doing is right and not caving to pressure...Even if it means losing your job, like he did. Wow. He got a standing ovation from the audience. The school board members on the stage, including the superintendent, remained seated.

Anyway, we were all so proud of our girl and I only teared up a tiny little bit when I saw her walk across the stage so tall and poised and I could still remember her little girl voice in my head telling me she couldn't wait to be a big, high school girl. Awwwww.

Originally, I figured my sister and aunt would want to leave right away after the ceremony, so I didn't even make plans for dinner afterward, but they said they wanted to take us out. Since any of the bigger restaurants were probably booked a long time ago, we just headed to Village Inn and were all very happy to eat there. It was a really lovely evening.

Three generations of quirky fun girls in one family. Woo Hoo!

Earlier in the day, I found out that my friend's fiance died after about a 7 month bout with cancer. It was heartbreaking. They were one of those couples you hang out with and think, "Hmmm. So that's what a healthy relationship looks like..." I'd never seen two people so happy together. I told everyone to let me know what I could do. Right before the graduation started, I got a call from G. telling me that our friend didn't want to be alone, and so all of our friends dropped what we were doing and went over to her house. I was planning on cleaning and getting ready for the party on Saturday night, but that really didn't seem all that important anymore.

We all sat outside on a beautiful night and cried and laughed and talked and drank (except me, because I had so much to do) with her until she felt okay to finally pass-out and go to sleep. It was an amazing, emotional and intense night and I was so glad I got to be there for her and felt lucky to have such an incredible group of friends.