Last Wednesday night my step-son graduated from high school.  Our boys stayed here - one in camp and the other with a great friend who, also, fed my animals.  We left here at 9am and drove through some pretty lousy weather to Benson - about 320 miles from home.  The wind blew so hard that I was getting hit by tumbleweeds and the wheel wells were whistling - while my mother in law cleared her throat about every 2 miles.  The motel was horrible - Days Inn in Benson.  The window was leaky so the wind howled and whislted into the room.  Most of the amenities were missing - no microwave, no iron.  And the outside doors would not open with our keys, so we had to walk from the main entrance down to the end of the hall.  Not so bad for me but my 85 yr old mother in law was with us - so one of us (my husband, usually) had to go through the front and go down to open the outside door to let her in close to the room.  We all chipped in and got Larry a laptop for his grad gift-

Larry’s mother had dinner fixed, so after I was hugged by her several times, we sat down to eat.  (I think I should digresss a bit here -I do not care for Larry’s mom.  I tried to 8 yrs ago when I first met her but after accusing my husband of being a child molester and I was unfit in an open child custody hearing, having no personal hygiene and not allowing Larry to grow up, I changed my open mind about her- so having her want to hug on me was not very pleasant for me. But for Larry, I sucked up) Then Larry got dressed for the ceremony and put his gown on-

Then we all got into my car and drove to the high school for the ceremonies.  We sat in the bleachers - packed tighter than sardines in the heat for 90 minutes.  Larry did good and looked good.  I had many memories of my oldest at her ceremonies - high school and college - and of my own, waaaayyy back in 1972.  So many fresh faces and ideas of the world.  So many doubts and goals in life.  I digress, again…. Here is Larry singing in the choir during the ceremony

Then it was finally Larry’s turn (by now my bottom was screaming at me to get off of it!)

YEAH LARRY!!

My husband’s sister showed up from Escondido, CA about 15 minutes before the ceremony started. (She and I got off to a bad start yrs ago cuz she thought that I was going to marry her brother and then take all of his money and possesions - but I let that go out of respect for great husband).  Two yrs ago, this same public school teacher called great husband/dad “a piece of worthess shit” (quote) in front of our boys.  After the ceremonies we went back to Larry’s for cake and then went to our room at the motel.  The wind had died enough so that the wind had stopped howling through the window - thankfully!  The next morning we all (except husband’ sister - too special to get up early, you know) went to breakfast.  I was showered, again, with hugs from the ex.  The drive home was rainy on and off, snowy near home, windy and lots of road construction - and I had the entertainment of the throat clearing on the way home. 

The whole trip was not near as bad as I had feared.  I was glad that I got to be there for Larry.  I am glad to be home, in my comfy bed, hugging my animals and my kids.  I have spent the rest of last week catching up with the kids, animals and sleeping!  Thank you!! Nicole for all that you did so that I was able to see Larry graduate