Off The Beaten Path

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Georgia, United States
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.

Thursday, May 22

Graduation



Tomorrow Ana Graduates from High School. It has been a long and winding road for my pea girl. She was born late in life for me, I was 40. I had three boys already and had no intention of starting over, and then along came Ana. She was not an accident, just a late life decision from a new marriage, and the fact that I always did want a large family. She was a beautiful baby, and a bit of a surprise, since I had three boys already, I was pretty sure I would have another boy. I remember when the Dr. said, "I have a surprise for you." I had just had an amniocentesis done the week before and was awaiting the results from the Dr.

So that was then, and this is now, and she has gone through all the stages that a normal girl does. She collected Beanie Babies, she wrote notes to us and stuffed them in envelopes and drew happy faces on them, she pestered her brothers, she dressed up in my high heels and makeup. But the one thing she never did, was ever compromise. If Ana didn't see a use for something, she gave it the boot. She has never done drugs, she has never smoked, she didn't see the point. But I can tell you, if she had wanted to, there wouldn't have been anything in this world that would have stopped her, especially her parents. Ana was a self motivated scholastic oriented person from the day she began school. Never settling for anything less than an A. So it is no wonder that she graduated with honors, and a 4.0 grade average from high school. She took her SAT's in her Junior year and scored so high, she didn't see the need to take them again as a Senior. She has won numerous awards of merit for writing achievements, creative endeavors, and Outstanding Academics.

She plans to go on to college in the fall, majoring in business administration. It is a long way from the goals she had set when she was eight, when all she could think about was being a marine biologist. But oh well, she could change her mind again before it is all said and done.

I kind of miss the little girl who used to take her shoes off, so she could run barefoot through the grass and climb over chain link fences at the baseball games so she could play with the kids on the other side............when she was TWO.

8 comments:

Dr.John said...

Ah! But they do grow up.You must be so proud of her and her accomplishments.

Pete said...

Nea

I too miss those days when the little girl used to run towards me. Now she runs away from me.

Wish Ana all the best from the knowleypowleys

Pete...;-)
XXX

Anonymous said...

Beautiful baby. Dazzling woman.

You did you job well, mama. She has her roots,now she's going to try her wings.

May she soar ...!

Bill ~ {The Old Fart} said...

Wonderful story Nea, you have done a fine job in raising Ana, you are truly a wonderful Mum.

I got some good news for you as well, I'll pop it off in an email.

Take care Nea

Burfica said...

she sounds like she is going to do very well in life. A huge part of that from a wonderful mother I am sure.

Congrats!!!

Libby said...

oh, nea, just look at how sweet she was! not that she's not now, of course but it's always fun to think back to how it all started!! congratulations, ana!!!

Cindy said...

Congratulations to Ana! And to you, too for the job well done in raising such a beautiful girl.
We got the invitation to our son, Chris' wedding right on his 26th birthday. Bittersweet to be sure. I sat there wondering when on earth this kid went from a newborn to a 6'3 young man. Seems like it just sort of happens almost overnight, doesn't it?

Avus said...

Yup! There is a great tug at the heart-strings when the chicks grow into birds and fly the nest. But there is the new satisfaction (and sometimes a little worry) of seeing them blossom into the wide world. Then, as with your earlier post, they still love to come back to the nest to see you.