we have just enjoyed a very momentous, happy, sad, celebratory and reflective long weekend. gabi has graduated high school following in the footsteps of her brothers and sisters also graduates of fairview high school over the years. as per tradition for our daughters, we gifted gabi with a charm bracelet featuring a charm specially selected and saved through each and every year of her life - a kangaroo for year 1 as she was an aussie born baby, music notes for year 7 as she begins to discover the beautiful world of music and performance, an english mastiff for year 9 when roxy joined our family and so on, a sparkling collection of memories, travels and achievements celebrating these 18 gabi years.
a sea of nearly 700 red and ready seniors participated in the commencement ceremonies. festival choir opened the ceremony with a musical performance singing you will be found followed by inspiring and hopeful speeches given by faculty and students alike, ending with the principal's fairwell admonishing this special group of students, born in the year 2000 to take with their individual hopes and vigor, personal opportunities to make the world a better place. one by one the anxious names were called with cheers and horns and dancing down the aisle, as gabi was caught in a photo by the boulder daily camera (6th photo in the series). hooray!! well done! photos, photos, photos!
the weekend was also filled to the brim with grad parties. i think gabi said she attended 13 on saturday, and 4 or 5 after graduation on sunday, wowza! what fun!! gabi and caroline scheduled their joint grad party at our house for monday night. knowing all their senior friends were getting exhausted and grad-partied out, they wanted a super chill, comfortable and relaxing but fun gathering topped off with chef paul's brick oven pizza from the pizza oven. it (paul) was a hit and it was great to have gabi's and our friends and family over to celebrate. thanks to uncle jerry for being sous chef!
whoa, slow down, it is all a little too much to take in as this graduation weekend closes a big chapter in gabi's as well as her parents' lives. with nicole turning 30 last week and gabi turning 18 the week before and then graduating high school, this 30 year span of raising and parenting our five children has come to an end. we are still here of course, yes we are, but i feel we are now taking on more of a reference role. what do you guys think about this idea i'm pursuing, mom and dad? we're moving overseas, will you come visit us?" y'know, stuff like that. weird.
the end
...........and with this momentous and joyous celebration of gabi, our last child, i am choosing to close my blog.
it has been a long adventure these nearly 8 years. i had no idea that a simple wish to keep our faraway friends and paul's and my parents up to date and aware of their boulder, colorado family members' comings and goings would develop into such an enormous part of my time, my life, my heart. i had no idea that a blog takes on a life of its own. i had no idea it would spark and nurture strong, creative needs deep within me. i had no idea the treasures of the photos and stories of our simple, daily lives would become a reference so precious to each and every member of our family. i had no idea that i, with determination and commitment, would stay up until the early hours of the morning crying in frustration to create a post (more than once, twice, many times). i had no idea i would mindlessly wander through the blog going back 2 years, 5 years, 7 years with tears of joy at the memories brought to life. i had no idea, i just had no idea what a powerfully big part of our family's life this blog would become. but i am grateful for my whim, for committing to keeping it alive and for the photo journal we now all have, for keeps.
thank you, thank you my constant, faithful followers for coming on this ride with us. i have appreciated the part you have played, feeling a commitment to your mostly unknown friendships and expectations has spurned me on many, many times. i don't think i will disappear forever as i may post now and then when our family gets together, we visit beautiful places around the world or who knows what else? so check back every once in a while because i will miss you.
to end, i will catch you up with what everyone is doing right now:
nicole - living in los angeles
halfway through her master's program in digital archiving at ucla
working at morphosis architectural firm
margo and andrew - margo is finishing up her last week at starbucks
andrew finishing up at the chevron office
packing up their apartment in midland, texas
moving to faraway, foreign kazakhstan for 6 months with chevron
nigel, their shar pei pup will be living with us while they are away
ben and kensey - living in prague
ben is working for amazon
kensey is working as a nanny and running a playgroup
traveling whenever and wherever they get the chance
sebastian and madison - both living and working in provo, utah
happily in the thick of wedding plans
gabrielle - working as a nanny over the summer
heading to university of utah in the fall to study broadcast journalism and dancing
roxy - needs help lifting her 130 lb. body when getting up as she has lost strength in her haunches
still able to stalk and chase squirrels and rabbits (she presented me with a gift of a successful
rabbit hunt yesterday, so she's still got it :(
faithfully loving and protecting us
paul and janet - in a state of shock, wandering aimlessly through a big, empty house wondering what just happened these 30 years........
love to all and thank you,
janet
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