This time tomorrow....

I will be at the Schottenstein Center preparing to watch my baby graduate from high school.

What a bittersweet moment in a parent's life.

When your child is born, you can't wait for them to walk and talk. And then suddenly they are 5 years old and heading off to kindergarten, and you think that graduation is sooooooooo far away.

Yet somehow that next twelve years flies by in the blink of an eye.

I still remember what my son wore on his first day of school. And how I put him on the bus, and cried, and then followed along behind it in my car so I could walk him to class. I remember handing him off to the teacher and telling her to take good care of my little guy. And I walked out of there with tears rolling down my face because I knew he was growing up.

We had lots of arguments over the years about how much better one's grades are when they actually turn their homework in. My sister Linda was a teacher at the time, and she would sit Jordan down and write out math problems on napkins at her kitchen table and make him show her he could do the work...."not understanding" wasn't the problem....turning the work in to the teacher was! He could not fool her, or anyone else with that excuse.

When he was ending his sophmore year, my best friend Elizabeth's daughter was graduating, and E told me that I would be amazed at how quickly the next two years would fly by.

She wasn't kidding. It feels like we had that conversation two months ago, not two years ago.

And now here we are. I walked into the room to write this post today, and the first thing I saw was this...



His cap and gown, just hanging around, waiting to do it's job tomorrow. I took a deep breath and sighed when I saw it, knowing that 24 hours from now, the major part of my job as a parent is done. My son will be an 18 year old adult with a high school diploma, and ready to start college in the fall.

I feel pretty good about the job I've done. I've made parenting mistakes (who hasn't?) but either because of me, or in spite of me, he has become an amazing young man. I had a lot of help along the way. Jordan's Dad and Stepmom are a very important part of his life, as well as my family and friends. I thank you all for everything you've done for Jordan, and for me.

I've been very teary the past couple of days, as I've been frantically cleaning house to prepare for his grad party. I keep the thoughts of the actual graduation ceremony at bay, because when I think about it I do start to cry. Not sad tears, really. Just emotional ones. It breaks my heart that my sister Linda won't be there with us. She and her husband Jan were, for the most part, Jordan's surrogate parents. They couldn't have children of their own, so they treated their nieces and nephews like they'd given birth to them. I know that as Jordan receives his diploma, somewhere Linda will be clapping and saying "Go Gordo!" and beaming with pride just like I am. Her husband and his new wife will be there in person, it makes me happy that Jan will be "representing" for Linda.

I doubt that I will post tomorrow, it will be a crazy day, but I'll be back on Sunday with a recap and pictures.

I'll end this very simply....

Tomorrow my son takes that last big step from childhood to adult. Take care of him, world. Love him as much as I do, and I promise you that you will get great things in return.

He is a wonderful man, and I could not be any prouder.

I love you, bug. Happy Graduation!