class of 2008

roxanne & caitlin

cousins first ~ graduates second

...

it doesn't seem that long ago that they were babies rolling around on the living room floor together. they were so funny to watch...they would roll all over each other, and blend together like like a couple of bear cubs. not much has changed over the past 18 years - you can still catch them rolling around, tickling and tormenting each other. unfortunately, they are way louder than they used to be! born just 3 months apart, they have been buddies since birth, despite the differences in there personalities...parts of which are as opposite as there hair color! they have always loved each other, always looked out for each other, always stepped up for each other when there was even the slightest possibility that push might come to shove.

i love that they got to share their high school experience together. it seems only fitting that they graduated together...it felt like the completion of a cycle started before they were even born. i remember, for a day or two after roxy was born, while caitlin was still swimming around in my belly, she became very quiet, a little less active than she was usually. i remember wondering how it all really worked in the pre-existence...was her little soul missing the company of her cousin and buddy to be?!

and so, here we again, another separation of sorts...each one planning a different course.

but this time, each one is armed with the sure knowledge that they are forever connected...

that their lives will continually reconnect...and that one day, they too will have babies of their own,

rolling around the living room floor, just like a couple of bear cubs.

and with that vision comes the promise of a new, and endlessly perpetuating cycle of

love,

and family,

and friendship.

where's waldo?

caitlin is kind of in the middle of the crowd, smiling a the camera. this is only a small portion of her graduating class. i think there were about 700 or so. surprisingly it was all over in about an hour and a half. it was great!

we were up in the nose bleeds, so getting any kind of shot was tough.

i figure i have 2 years to save for a really good zoom lens so i'll be ready to take on connor's graduation.

what if you just stay home and marry your father like you promised when you were five...

caitlin is down to her finals.

final exams, final concerts, final goodbyes.

the morning she started preschool there were no tears.

she was excited and happy to be on her way - there was no hysterical crying, no tantrums, or leg clinging death grips...on either of our parts. but as she moves thru the milestones of youth toward independence i find that i am wanting to double, and dare i say, triple knot those proverbial apron strings...i just wanna cinch 'em really tight. maybe it's because when she was little i knew that she would always come home to me at the end of the day. now that i'm older and, uh, somewhat wiser, i know there will come a time when she heads out for the last time as she begins school, or moves in with girl friends, or marries some man that i'm not sure will ever be quite worthy of her...and she won't return to me at the end of the day. instead, she'll go home to someone else...and share her stories, and her laughter, and her unique take on life with them. and as much as i know that's how it should be, and even hope it will be, i still don't want it to be.

but they will love her, and she will bless them, and i will miss her, and she will call me when she can, and she will tell me she loves me and misses me too, and that i was the best mother in all the universe, and that she owes me a huge debt of gratitude that she'll never in a million years know how to repay, and that she'll be home for the holidays, and can she borrow my debit card. and then we'll laugh and laugh.

caitlin, we are all so proud of you.

you are beautiful, and funny, and kind, and gracious, and loving, and smart, and always a blessing to our family.

congratualtions pie baby!

you are loved.

and before you know it...

caitlin will be a high school graduate in less that 10 day now.
it hardly seems possible - and it all sounds so cliche...
but the time has gone by so fast. i remember bringing her
home from the hospital, laying on the bed with her that
first night and bursting into tears, being suddenly overwhelmed
by the magnitude of the responsibility that lay ahead.
i suddenly felt this sense of urgency...this feeling that i had to
learn everything i would ever need to know about raising her
for the next 18 years right there and then. with calm reassurance
steven gently held us both and explained that it would all be
ok...things will be fine...it will all work out... we've got time...
18 years is a long way off.

he was only partly right.