

1. Seven graduation ceremonies! (Dad missed Melissa's birth, so missing her graduation from high school wasn't that big.) Can you imagine sitting through speeches about dreams and imagination and the will to win SEVEN times?! Whew. At least they had a few years rest between ceremonies.

3. At the very least twenty proms and dozens of other dances. Most of those were the girls in the family and I know I only had one dance dress that Mom didn't make for me. That's a lot of last minute sewing and blow-hard speeches to dates about being home on time because "So-and-so is our favorite." One time I came upstairs in my just-finished dress to find my date sitting on the couch in his tuxedo with Aaron sitting on his lap. Aaron was wearing a diaper and peanut butter. Apparently it was story time and the guy on the couch was the only person Aaron could find sitting down. Here is a photo of Katy and me at a dance in 1992. (Our dates are Steve Tuttle and Ben Olsen. I was a senior and Katy was a sophomore. I guess all seniors have to try to look cool for pictures. Try and fail.) We're both wearing dresses Mom made for us.


5. My mother had to get kids registered for school (grade school, junior high, high school) ninety-six times. For all you non-high school graduates, that's almost one hundred.

7. Hair. Lots and lots of hair. Big, straight, long, short, bad, good, brunettes trying to be blondes, redheads trying to be blondes. No matter what, six teenage girls (and one boy) who care way too much about how their hair looks means carpets covered in hair, tub drains full of hair, and the never ending search for Mom's brush. (The following picture is of the five teenagers in the family in 1992. From left, Allyn at 14, Me at 18, Jen at 19, Katy at 16, and Melissa at just barely 13.)

8. Twenty-four high school yearbooks.
9. Dozens of annoying friends. From the dumb boys leaving a stuffed dog in front of Jennie's and my window in junior high to Allyn's gaggle of mean girls to The Legend. That alone could be your reason for not having eight children. It's just one of mine.
10. Sports! Panthers, Spartans, Wildcats, Imps, Weasels (no? why do I feel like Imps should always be followed by Weasels?), Cavemen. Mom and Dad cheered for the team whether we were riding the pine, watching the cheerleaders, falling down on the track, or not making a tackle.
Cheers to the parents (also bus drivers)! Congratulations to my Mom and Dad for the biggest graduation in the history of graduations.
4 comments:
WHATEVER! why is it that i found out about the graduation by reading this wonderful blog entry?
i was wondering when and if i was going to get an announcement from "the boy".
as usual, nicole, you have hit every nail on the head.
mom looks great in her white jacket!
Oh, I am laughing so hard! I'm totally stoked about having a kid start school now. And thanks for capturing the most awkward time in my life on your blog. I'll have to see if I have any pictures of Square Hair Nicole among my posessions.
Yeah, you are toast. Wasn't that "hair" picture after an 8-10 hour drive in the scorching heat? I can tell by my headache face and Melissa's barf face.
Mom and Dad look great! I got my graduation announcement-with photo!- today. A very close call.
Wish I could have been there.
Love the blasts from the past! High school-what a time! Pretty much any picture of me during that time means a bad-hair picture, so whatever. Mom and Dad sure have endured a lot of drama.
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