Yeah, It’s True What They Say…Don’t Blink!

I did and look what happened….from the first day of Kindergarten 12 years ago to the picture below….this one….the one that happened when I blinked.  Today is my son’s last first day as in his first day of Senior year in high school.

I know that he will have a first day of college, but it won’t be the same. He won’t be here, slightly annoyed that I keep asking him for a first day picture.  He won’t have to kindly obilge and grant me a smile to get it over with which is OK with me.  At least I get that first day picture year after year.  He finally posed for this one after his sweet girlfriend and I begged him to cooperate. And I think he ended up having fun and having his mushy mama hug him wasn’t so bad after all!

To my first born, my beautiful son, I wish you an amazing and incredible last year in high school.  Senior year is so much fun.  You get to rule the school and leave early since your half day schedule is the reward you reap from working ahead the last three years in AP classes and college dual enrollment, too.  Nice going.

Keep it up this year even though your schedule will be easier.  You get to spend some of your freed up afternoons focusing on your golf game and ice time with your participation on the Varsity teams again. Also please put time in those scholarship apps and your college applications and put to use the very impressive scores that you earned on the ACT and SAT (so proud)!

And remember to stay the amazing young man that you are….a loving son who is a pretty good teen most of the time (stressing most as you know the moments that you put us to the test!)….a good student who teachers like….a fair teammate who is truly a team player….a good friend, which certainly shows with the nice friends that you have been buddies with since Kindergarten and even some since the toddler years…Continue to be a gentleman and a nice boyfriend. You have so impressed us with how you have handled your first love and your sweetheart is such a nice young lady. 

Enjoy, embrace and hang out with your ol’ parents some (and thank you for the time you do give us as you truly do make time for us more than we expected!)…and remember to take it all in.

You only get your high school senior year once, so make it count and savor this year, Mr. Class of 2016.

We will be cheering you on, gently (usually gently anyway) guiding you when needed as you prepare to leave the nest next year.  We are always there for you, no matter what.  Even when that giggling little boy in the first picture turns into a grown man, maybe living thousands of miles away from us….we are always with you in your heart and hopefully, when needed, in your mind, when you have big decisions to make.  Maybe our words of wisdom AND our own adult missteps through the years will help you find your way when life gives you lemons and lemonade.  Both the joys and concerns require good decisions to move forward and to grow and thrive.

We get one more year with you under our roof to help with that growing and thriving.  And I’m not gonna blink!

We are always here for you, our son.

You have made us SO proud in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, middle school, that first day of high school and now your senior year has arrived.  You are also a good family member in our family of four.  Wow….we blinked and it got here fast.  I’m going to keep my eyes wide open as you venture through your senior year and make your way to the podium wearing that prized cap and gown.

You keep your eyes wide open too, son.  Be careful, be mindful, continue to be kind….and don’t blink cuz the graduating class of 2016 will happen so fast now.

Happy last first day, my love.

P.S. Don’t forget that your little sister is embracing her last year of middle school and is watching her big bro, so keep setting a good example…I beg of you….cuz after you fly off, high school starts all over again for your tired, but happy and pretty darn excited parents! 

That picture above of my two kiddos is also a picture of my heart.