Emma’s 8th Grade Graduation was Thursday evening. The kids had a class dinner followed by dessert with parents while they played a slideshow and listened to the class prophecy read by two of their former teachers. After dessert and lots of pictures with family, they celebrated with a semi-formal dance. The kids had a great time, and I was their photographer for the evening, so I was able to hang around and watch.
Each student had their own place setting with a program, name card, and placemat made of a collage of all their baby pictures.
Emma and Me.
Emma’s step-mom, Staci took this picture of us. Emma with Mom and Dad.
Emma and her best friend, Larissa. She is a sweet sweet girl, and Emma is very lucky to have her as a friend.
It is so odd to me that Emma is going into high school – I just don’t feel like I’m old enough to have a child old enough to be in high school. I am excited to see which adventures she will choose to experience, but I am also worried about the pitfalls, speed bumps, and heartache that might slow her down. Emma is so smart (but a tad lazy), I know she has great things in store for her, and I am excited to see her succeed. She’s reached the time in her life where she’s doing more of it on her own. I have to be willing to let her experience the adventures AND the pitfalls, speed bumps, and heartache. It will be tough to be watching from the sidelines, but it will be okay – I’ll be on the bench ready to jump in to help, comfort, and guide her when she needs or asks for it. It is so hard to let go. To let go of the control, to relax the rules, to be a spectator. To let go of my little girl and accept the young lady she has become. It is hard to let go, but it is oh so worth it!
When we headed out to buy Emma’s dress for the dance, the four parents had set some ground rules – it couldn’t be strapless, not too short, and not to “big girl” (for lack of a better word – skanky). Unfortunatley, when you’re tall and skinny as a rail, it’s really hard to find a dress that fits that also falls within all the rules. When we finally found a dress that fit and Emma loved, it was strapless, but we decided that between Mom and Nana we could add straps to it. We planned on buying some plain white satin and making some spaghetti straps to add to her dress.
My mom is a creative genius when it comes to problem solving. She took the dress home with her from our scrapbooking weekend. After inspecting the dress, she figured out that adding sating spaghetti straps would not work; however she came up with a very clever, much more pretty solution with beads. Last weekend, I had to go to Cove for a photo shoot anyway, so when I was done, mom and I set out to make some straps. They turned out positively gorgeous, and they complimented the dress perfectly. They are four strands of silver seed beads with a larger bead holding all four strands every few inches. Most importantly, Emma loved them!
The result served its purpose, and the straps are removable so she can wear it strapless to a later dance if she wants to.
Nature Girl. Mom. Wife. Friend. Photographer. Sewer. Crafter. Artist.
To borrow a phrase – “Yeet Ye Riche”
