One in Four Hundred Seventy Five

Tonight, to celebrate Duncan's graduation from high school yesterday,

we are going to see the new Star Trek movie.  We were going to go last night, but things got complicated, and we had to postpone for a night.

Duncan graduated from high school in a mushroom.  Or maybe it was a giant alien spaceship.

I had never been to the Dee Events Center before yesterday.  I did not know it was shaped like a mushroom.  One of those buildings that makes you think that everybody really was on drugs for most of the seventies.

Duncan had to be there about an hour before the program started, so Dan took him up early, and me, my parents and the kids drove up later.  We made it just in time, walked into the front doors, and prepared to bust our way into the arena, only to be stopped by two of Duncan's favorite teachers, and probably the only two teachers in the whole school who would recognize me as Duncan's mom,  asking for our tickets.

Tickets? We need tickets to get into a high school graduation?  Really?  Well, says one teacher, you should have four tickets.  Duncan was given four tickets for his family and after those four, everybody else would need to buy a ticket.

Yeah, that was the first I heard anything about tickets.   In true Duncan form, he had neglected to mention, or to bring, his four tickets with him. Not shockingly, Duncan still claims he was never given any tickets. It was a good thing that we had just happened to come in the doors where Duncan's teachers happened to be standing.   They were not the least bit surprised that Duncan would have not been clued in to the whole ticket thing.  And they let four of us in without tickets.  Grandma and Grandpa still had to buy them, but they were good sports about it.

Graduation was nice, uneventful and quite predictable, other than the older lady from the Board of Education who spoke and kept calling them the Class of 2003.  I'm sure she was wondering for a while why everyone was snickering.  She did finally catch on, and had a great laugh at her own expense about it.  Oh, and I made it all the way through without shedding a single tear. It was just a cheerful, rowdy good time.

After listening to 475 names being read, and watching 475 kids walk across the stage,

 we went outside and snapped a few pictures before rushing off to Golden Corral for a very crowded dinner.



 

 

 Duncan was so happy after it was over. He kept hugging everyone.  Even Will. Even Olivia.  It was a little bit of an obligatory hug, but at least it was voluntary.

 




 


 I didn't think Golden Corral would be a real popular spot for post-graduation celebrations, but I was mistaken.  It was packed.   But the pot roast was delicious.

It was a nice day for Duncan, having all of his grandparents show up in support, and feeling the accomplishment of finishing something.  Now we just have to get serious about what comes next.

And just like that, our Month of Events is over.  It feels like everything noteworthy in our family happened in the space of four weeks.  Now, we can get back to some semblance of normalcy maybe, and start looking forward to Alisa coming home. No wait, when Alisa comes home, it will be the end of summer, and I refuse to look forward to that.