A mom’s reflection on 8th grade graduation

How can it possibly be that time already???

I’m going to stop being a social researcher for a minute and just be an amazed mom. Jeff and I are entering an era that once seemed so far away, so unimaginable … our oldest child is graduating from her K-8th grade middle school and heading to high school.

On Sunday I was in New York City to launch The Good News About Marriage on Fox & Friends, and that afternoon was strolling around visiting my old stomping grounds and saw this adorable dress at a street fair on Amsterdam and 75th. She needed a dress that was navy blue or had navy blue accents for graduation. So I bought it. And then wanted to cry when I got home and she tried it on.

The pattern of the dress is little birds taking flight.

Don’t get me wrong, we are very excited, very proud of our young — dare I say it –lady. No longer child…not quite woman …but yes a bright, beautiful, loving and lovely young LADY! It was just yesterday that her daddy and I could fix anything and I mean just about ANYTHING with a hug, a kiss on the forehead and the promise that it will get better.

The graduation from 8th grade to me means so much more than just going to high school. It is a signal that she is about to enter a world that will become hers more than ours. She will navigate classes I can no longer help her with (well, let’s be honest, I stopped being able to help her with most of them long ago!). She will have to decide on her own friends, with input from me but… she will be the one who decides. Because all too soon, she’ll be physically able to drive herself to see the friends she wants to see, and do the things she wants to do. (Wait, what?)

And not only is our daughter graduating from the 8th grade, this is also an the end of an era of attending the same school since she was a little tiny thing with the cutest short blond haircut that she wouldn’t be caught dead in today. And yet, the head and heart under today’s cool long hair have been affected by this amazing school in ways that will, we hope, stay with her for the rest of her life. Not only was this school a wonderful educational environment, it was a phenomenal environment of spiritual growth. What a blessing this school, it’s administration, teachers, families, staff have been to our family!

How blessed we have been, knowing that our children are loved as well as taught, that godly behavior is modeled and that the things that really matter in life really matter at their school. A true partnership of home and school; praying, teaching, training, sharing, living life out together and growing in God’s ways. As our daughter has grown academically, she has grown as a person… an artist… an athlete… a friend…a follower of Jesus.

Our son has a few more years at this precious school. We are grateful we don’t have to say goodbye. But tomorrow, it is a new transition for her, and we will watch our daughter walk across a stage and take flight.