Graduation

Illinois is weird. People graduate from 8th grade in Illinois. With a great deal of pomp and circumstance, parties and hoopla. We just didn't DO that in Michigan. Truthfully, I don't know if this is strictly an Illinoian tradition, a K through 8 school tradition, a parochial school tradition, or what. But it just seems darn odd to me. Good bye school, I get. Yippee, I've got four more years before I finish this up, not so much.

This evening, I was at the 8th grade graduation at my daughter's school. The 7th grade parents, of which I am one, host this very large and elegant shindig. So I spent the day cooking, chopping, and chatting. My legs are tired, but I really did enjoy it. Working with someone is the easiest way to get to know them. And I am definitely still in the getting to know you stage at Annie's school.

I was wary, initially, of my ability to fit in at this school. It seemed pretty clique-y to me. (I'm intimidated because of the rich suburb it's in, never feel good enough in that kind of setting.) But with my putting myself out there just a little bit, the moms have been very welcoming. Nice.

And they didn't mind me today, mucking around in the whole excluding girls topic, either. I talked to several moms, including one of the excluders. I learned much, and hope that maybe some changes will take place. I'm not sure why no one has done anything about this in the past. Maybe it didn't seem worth doing, or people were uncomfortable bringing it up.

I was reassured to hear that no one thinks Annie is doing any of the excluding. But she and I talked about it this afternoon. And she was upset to hear that the other girls felt excluded at times, just as she had, by the Queen Bees. Glad to know she's thinking and feeling about it. Perhaps she'll make some different choices in the fall.

Back to the grads. They were really beautiful tonight. The girls dressed up in very formal attire, lovely dresses, as well as the boys. Not in dresses, of course . . . ! And these kids are so tight. There are 20 some in the class, so they know each other really well. Which certainly can be both negative and positive. But it seemed pretty positive this evening.

Annie was being Annie throughout, mixing with all of her friends, being goofy. Even though I think this graduation stuff is pretty goofy, I look forward to seeing her next year, being both serious and silly in her formal attire as she looks forward to the next step.

Until tomorrow,
Liz