Ch-Ch-Changes (Turn and Face The Strange)

Our oldest son graduated from high school today. [Insert nose-blowing, tear-wiping] Yesterday, we had his graduation party, and it was one heck of a ride. After a massive amount of planning, spending, decorating, ordering, picking-up, dropping-off, cooking, setting-up, gluing, picture-cropping, folding, mingling, photographing, eating, tearing-down, cleaning, washing, packing-up, driving, unloading, and putting-away... (pant pant pant)... it's over. He's had a very stressful week, through no fault of his own, but he's pulled through and I couldn't be more proud of him than I am right now. Zachary gave a small speech this morning at his baccalaureate ceremony, where he explained what the Philippians scripture "I can do all things through God who strengthens me" means to him. Nobody in the audience except for his father and I knew what hell he's been through in the past week, and it was so inspiring to see him up there, playing drums for the worship service, and talking about his faith in God even when times are hard. Zachary, if you are reading this, I am so very blessed to have you in my life and will forever be proud to call you my son.



Soon, I'm off on a whirlwind adventure to Las Vegas with my mother. She's never flown before, so this should be interesting. I've never been away from my husband and kids for a week, so this should be interesting as well. I'm not one of those wives who want "alone time" (as he will laughingly tell you if you ask him), so this is very strange to me. I also wonder what the house is going to look like when I get home. Don't worry, I'm not leaving yet. I still have time to worry about that.

Watching the Tonys is a surreal experience this evening. I loved the opening, for one thing. But the hilarity of seeing Trey Parker and Matt Stone on stage, over and over, winning for their musical "The Book of Mormon" just cracks me up. Back in 1996, I remember seeing the previews on Comedy Central for a new cartoon comedy called "South Park" and I just could not WAIT to see it, because it looked like the funniest thing I would ever see in my life. And it was. Who would have thought at that time, that these same two guys would be standing in front of the audience at the Tony Awards in 2011, cleaning up? AND... who would have thought that Matt Stone would turn out to be the hot one? Hahaha!

I'm going to go enjoy some more grad party leftovers -- wings, meatballs, mac & cheese, bar cheese & crackers, and my personal favorite: Mountain Dew! (We ate the rest of the cake last night -- that didn't take long!)

Another fast-paced week ahead of me -- wish me luck!

Stephanie Jean