Graduation day!

Super busy and intense day. Graduation was today, which meant that Aaron graduated today. I'm incredibly proud of my son. He worked so hard to achieve all that he did, and it was so great to see the culmination of his efforts today.

I woke up at 6:00 (yes, in the morning), showered, shaved and started breakfast. I fired up the grill so I could roast some peppers, then shredded some potatoes for frying. After that I shredded some cheese and started cooking the beef chorizo that I got from the ranch where I get my beef. After the peppers were roasted and cooled a bit, I chopped them and added them to some eggs I'd scrambled up, then added that mixture to the chorizo. Then I woke everyone up, and we had breakfast burritos with the egg/pepper/chorizo mix with the hashbrowns and cheese, covered in green chile and salsa. YUMMY! :-D Oh yeah... we had coffee, too. It was pretty tasty, and Aaron definitely appreciated that the whole thing was in his honor.

Then it was off to graduation. The ceremony went really well, and I'm pretty proud of myself... I didn't cry at all... of course it helped that Adrian Martinez, one of the kids from the team who was graduating, didn't get all emotional about it. I knew that if he did, I would, and he did well. ;-) I admit that I did choke up a bit when I hugged Aaron after the ceremony, but he cracked a joke that made us both laugh, so we were able to hold back a bit.

After that, we went home and I gave Aaron his graduation present: an electric scooter (looks like a Vespa) and helmet. I watched him practice with it a bit, then he headed off to see some friends and show off his scooter a bit, and I took everyone else (except my oldest son... he had to work) out to Boulder for the Farmers' Market. We got there SO late! It was already 1:40 by the time we got there, so a lot of stuff had sold out. I did manage to grab some ground bison, mushrooms, a bag of spinach, and some more cheese, but that was about it. I wanted to get some more of that beef chorizo, but they were already sold out (harsh!). One quick stop at Great Harvest Bread Company for some brownies, then it was back to my house, drop off the groceries, and then off to a graduation party to which I'd been invited.

*WHEW!!* I can't even believe how much happened today.

It still hasn't really sunk in that Aaron has graduated. I don't think it's really hit him yet, but I know that come Monday, when I don't wake him up to go to school, it'll really hit both of us. I'll get some pictures of him and his scooter and post them up here.

As I said before, I'm incredibly proud of Aaron and his accomplishment today. But he's not the only one I was proud of today. Several of the students from the climbing team also graduated today: Zach, Adrian, Joe, Jerred, David, and Eliria, as well as several other seniors who had been on the team or had been in my classes and had become my friends.

I think that's the toughest part of being a teacher- being a part of a young person's life and then having to say goodbye to them four years after you met them. I've been through a lot with so many of them, but especially Zach, Adrian, and Joe, and now they are out on their own. I do know that I'll be staying in touch with several of the seniors that graduated, especially those three, but it's not the same as being a part of their every day life... seeing them in the hallways, having them stop by my classroom... but now we get to have our friendships move to the next level, and it really was time for it to grow. I've no complaints. I'm very proud of the class of 2008, I'm honored to have been a part of their lives, and I'm excited to see how our friendships grow over the next years of our lives.