Graduation

Those of you who have been to either or both of my other daughter’s graduation parties know we always do a couple things.  The favorite tradition, by far, is the jagermeister shot with Oma and all the grandkids and graduates…that is the highlight for many and talked about long after our celebrations end.  We are German, we celebrate things and we celebrate hard…I am proud that my mom is here to pass these little bits of our heritage on to the next generation.  Yes, it makes her the coolest Grandma on the planet, but for me, it is so much more. 

The second thing I always do is give a toast.  I think it is super important, as a parent, to tell my girls how proud I am of them.  In this day and age, our young women have enough of a daily barrage telling them they aren’t ‘enough’ so when they come home, we provide a place for them to be who they are in their heart of hearts.  We laugh, sing, dance and generally act like idiots most of the time, my goal to provide a place of laughter and acceptance, no judgment, only love.  When they screw up, theycertainly hear about it, they are punished and we move on.  When they do well or face down a hard challenge, they hear about that as well….”You can do it”, “We are proud of you”, “I am glad you did that”, are commonly heard around here. 

Graduation provides us a unique opportunity, while surrounded by family and friends, for us to publicly congratulate and praise our children.  We have the chance to say, for others to hear, what we sometimes only whisper in our children’s ear.  For Micaela and Rylee, I relished the opportunity to thank them, praise them and wish them well as they left the safe haven of 1014 Rose Circle and embarked on their next challenge.  It is my intention to do the same now, for Lainey.  Forgive me for the length of this….I can be a bit sappy at times. My sappiness is tripled as my last little birdie leaves the nest and spreads her wings with me watching from behind.  I think this realization is why I have struggled so with composing this. 

So, on my fifth attempt at writing what is supposed to be a ‘toast’ for Lainey, I said to Steph, I am just going to write from my heart and see what I come up with.  The result is what you are reading now and what I read at Lainey's graduation party the other night.  I realize it is not a "toast", but for Lainbae, I just couldn’t quite capture all she has meant to me in a short toast. 

Here goes….to Lainey

From the moment you were born, your personality was pretty much set - content to suck your thumb and watch the chaos around you, as long as your belly was full. Only the sucking her thumb part has changed, as the phrase “I’m hungry” is said about 5 times a day and anyone who knows her knows that a Hangry Lainey is not a nice Lainey.  Having three babies in three years meant my time for you was often rushed, your time as a baby a blur of diapers and bottles and your sisters.  I do remember distinctly, how much I enjoyed my time with you when you would wake up in the middle of the night.  You were so sweet, you would eat and smile at me and we would steal away some special one on one time before the sun came up and interrupted our very delicate dance. 

As you grew, you proved that, while you are one of us, you are also very uniquely your own and I am proud to say that has not changed.  Often at the forefront of most of our family laughs you also often silently observed your sisters and me and our interactions, learning valuable lessons as the youngest often do.  Probably a combination of birth order, me having experience, your personality and the lessons you learned made you ‘easy’ as I like to tell people.  Or maybe after Rylee and, especially, Micaela, I was just tired, maybe they wore me out….I am not sure I just know, to me, you were easy from the first day we brought you home from the hospital,  and that never really changed.

Best Friends

Shoulder Surgery 2017

High school had many difficulties for you but you handled every challenge with grace and class, two things that are missing from a lot of today’s youth.  Friendships stolen, athletic trials that would have broken a lesser spirit, academic challenges you worked to overcome, physical injuries that left you frustrated and mad….however, every single time, you picked yourself up, dusted yourself off and went about making the best of it.  You made a whole new group of friends, you lead the charge to make a change for the betterment of those coming behind you for NDA volleyball, you arranged tutoring to help you get the grades you wanted and you played with pain for your team, you rehabbed to the point of exhaustion and you did it all as a champion for yourself, while also being a shining leader for your peers and for younger girls who look up to you – making the choices that made your life better, not waiting for someone else to do it for you.  These things, my dear daughter, will carry you forward in life.  For all of this….I am so proud to call you mine and I am so pleased to share you with the world. 

As you graduate and enter this new phase of life, I wish for you these things:

·        * That your confidence,  in not only your talent but also in your ability to work hard, will let you soar to heights you never imagined possible both in volleyball and in the classroom.

·        * That your spirit never gets broken, no matter how much you get kicked around by life.

·      *   That you find love in the form of new friendships, new teammates, new coaches and new experiences. 

·     

         *That the little girl who brought us Mr. Electric, the Reds foam finger, constant laughter, and has shown me so many new ways to face the challenges of the world - has the chance to shine through at Wright State and beyond – never change who you are.

 

·         *That the memories I have of you and me, our duets in the car, my great snapchat stories, the highs and the lows of sports, hotel stays, long car rides, mulching 2018 and so many more will boost you up when you are down, just like they do for me.  

Finally, these last two years of just the three of us being home, of me being able to focus mostly on

you have been times I will cherish forever.  Without knowing it, I made up for the time we may have lost when you were a baby, it's funny how God worked it out like that.  I am going to miss you, there I said it, my happy little baby heading out into the world.  You are ready, you can do it and we will be right behind you cheering the entire way.  After all the Raider Rig is gassed up and ready to go!

I love you,

Mom