Then and Now

Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different?

C.S. Lewis 

 

How can the little girl who wanted to be a dolphin trainer just a few years ago now be graduating from 8th grade? How is it that we'll have a freshman granddaughter next year? How is it that she is old enough to drive us instead of us driving her?

 

There was no Willie the Wildcat nor caps and gowns like there was for her preschool graduation back in the day. But,  I guess we blinked and life happened. Kinley graduated from 8th grade at 8 AM May 21. (Yes, 8 AM!) There were 127 students in the school's Navigators Team. (There was another graduation ceremony with a similar number of students later in the morning for the other team. Coming from a small school, the numbers blow my mind.)

 

 

 

The afternoon before, Brooke was promoted from 5th grade, making way for middle school next year. She started kindergarten in 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic.  

 

 

Yes, she still had the handy, dandy sign made by her mom, but her classroom was in the basement at home. Back in that moment of time, she wanted to be a teacher. 

 

On Wednesday, she was among 90 classmates who said goodbye to elementary school.

 

Brooke's preschool graduation in May 2020.

  

No caps and gowns for her either. Maybe we could still see a glimpse of that little girl in that confident, maturing new 6th grader? 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what their current dreams for their futures are. But we've certainly been enjoying the present this spring. 

 

While the bulk of the girls' middle school tennis season was last fall, Kinley got to compete in a mixed doubles tennis tournament earlier this month. 

 

 

She and her partner got 2nd. 

 

 

Then, she got 2nd in her pool in the league singles tournament on May 6. 

 

In her "spare" time, she also went out for middle school track. She ran the hurdles ... and she didn't get hurt (the most important part).

 

 She high jumped. (I was not responsible for any of those genes.)

 

At various meets, she ran the mile and the 800. (Also not responsible for those genes.)

Tennis will be her sport in high school, so these final track meets will likely be her last. That's the difference between tiny schools and 6A schools. Students do more specialization. 

During the winter, we also got to watch Brooke play volleyball - with her mom as coach. It was amazing to see how much all the girls had improved from last year to this year. 

She played basketball, too.

Earlier this month, we went to Brooke's 5th grade music concert featuring recorders. Brooke told me and Grandma Christy that we could skip the concert. You know ... recorders and 5th graders? Yes, there was the requisite Hot Cross Buns, in both a traditional and a jazzy version. But who could turn down a chance to hear recorder renditions of Eye of the Tiger or Coldplay's Clocks? Contrary to pre-concert warnings, it was a good performance. 

 "The days are long, but the years are short." 

Long days are probably more a reality for parents than grandparents. But even for we grandparents, time races onward. 

 For my girls as you both leave behind the old and stride toward something new: 

Always remember that you are braver than you think, stronger than you believe, smarter than you realize and more loved than you can imagine.