It Was A Nice Graduation

Bigger Girl and her two classmates had a beautiful graduation.

Yes, it's a small school.  One teacher, one administrator, up to 20 students in the morning for grades 1-7, up to 20 in the afternoon for grades 8-12.

Because of the size of the class, there was no need for a valedictorian or salutatorian, each of them got to speak.

Friends and family sat at tables in the spacious and nicely decorated room, rented so we didn't have to do it all ourselves.

With such a small school, some graduations have been at restaurants, using their big banquet rooms.  Most of those turn out to be so-so.  Some have been at a local and very accommodating church (one of their pastors has kids who attend), but then we have to cater it ourselves.

We got the bargain of a lifetime, finding a nice local place that has caterers willing to give a small private school a great discount.  Very elegant.

The menu was fixed, and this vegan ate the salad that had cheese sprinkled all over it and the veggies that had butter.   So did vegan Bigger Girl.  Both of us know when to keep our mouths shut and make the best of things.


The speaker was a former graduate who is a friend, and the son of the Sunday school pastor under whom i teach two times a month.  It was great to see him, he's now a college recruiter.


The young man who graduated got very choked up during his speech about how at one point in his life, he was an uncontrollable young kid who didn't care whom he hurt.  Then his grandparents took him in, other family gathered around, they helped him straighten out and sent him to this school with a no nonsense teacher who demanded excellence from him and got it.


The other young lady also cried as she discussed the teen troubles her family and teacher had helped her steer past.


Bigger Girl read one of her free verse poems.


They received their diplomas and hugs and congratulations, and a fun time was had by all.  Yes, my other three managed to drag themselves up to get there.


So Bigger Girl, the one i was told was so learning disabled she might be able to live in a group home someday if i worked with her very hard, has managed, between home school and a great individualized teaching plan from a caring teacher, to graduate high school, reading on a college level.  (Do not ask about her math.  Do not ask abut any of my children's math, or Sweetie's either, for that matter.  They can add, subtract, multiply, divide, and balance a checkbook.  It will have to be enough for whatever they do in life.)


Next stop, community college.  We know she can do it.


Today is

Anniversary of the Royal Brunei Land Forces -- Brunei



Blessing of the Fleet Festival -- Biloxi, Mississippi (through June 3rd)

Castile-La Mancha Day -- Castile-La Mancha, Spain

Dakas' Day -- Tantric Buddhists (offerings to Dakas and Father Tantra to manifest positive social change and environmental healing)

Death of Shabdrung Day -- Bhutan
 
Fardagar -- Iceland (Moving Days, through Sunday, the traditional time of year for workers to move to other farms, debts to be settled, and it used to start the fiscal year.)

Feast of the Visitation of Mary -- Christianity (Mary's visit of her cousin Elizabeth, chronicled in Luke 1:39-56)

Hay Festival of Literature -- Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales (through June 10)

National Macaroon Day

Royal Brunei Malay Regiment Day / Royal Brunei Armed Forces Day -- Brunei

Save Your Hearing Day -- because once it is gone, you will regret it

Speak in Complete Sentences Day -- be a good example!

St. Petronilla's Day (Patron of mountain travellers; against fever)

Take This Job and Shove It Day -- birth anniversary of Johnny Paycheck

This Day (again) -- Fairy Calendar

What You Think Upon Grows Day

World No Tobacco Day -- International


Birthdays Today:

Jonathan Tucker, 1982
Colin Farrell, 1976
Brooke Shields, 1965
Lea Thompson, 1961
Gregory Harrison, 1950
John Bonham, 1948
Sharon Gless, 1943
Joe Namath, 1943
Johnny Paycheck, 1941
Peter Yarrow, 1938
Clint Eastwood, 1930
Denholm Elliott, 1922
Don Ameche, 1908
Norman Vincent Peale, 1898
Fred Allen, 1894
Walt Whitman, 1819


Today in History:

Rameses II (The Great) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, BC1279
A devastating earthquake strikes Antioch, Turkey, killing 250,000, 526
Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans, 1223
Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary, 1669
The Godiva procession through Coventry begins, 1678
The Province of Pennsylvania bans all theater productions, 1759
In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains, 1813
In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, 1866
Dr James Moore of the UK wins the first recorded bicycle race, a 2k velocipede race at Parc de St Cloud, Paris, 1868
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes, 1884
Arrival at Plymouth of Tawhiao, King of Maoris, to claim protection of Queen Victoria, 1884
Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1889
The Union of South Africa (predecessor of the Republic of South Africa) is created, 1910
The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles, 1927
A 7.1 magnitude Earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan, 1931
The Republic of South Africa is created, 1961
The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide  that buries the town of Yungay, Peru, 1970
In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30, 1971
The Muppet Movie, Jim Henson's Muppets' first foray into the world of feature length motion pictures, is released, 1979
The burning of Jaffna Library, Sri Lanka, is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century, 1981
Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead, 1985
Athena 98.4 FM, the first legal private radio station in Greece, starts broadcasting, 1987
Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, 2005