June 8, 2019
Catonsville High School Graduation, Class of 2019
These four years were a wild ride and we are so proud to say that SHE DID IT. We did it too. Sometimes it felt like we just needed to survive and hope to get her through and other times it felt like we were in a sweet spot and the world aligned. We are getting off that ride, maybe a little windswept and exclamatory but we are walking away with smiles.
Rachael has a formidable intellect and grasps complicated topics. She has a gift of converting her ideas into articulate clear text. Rachael can shine in a classroom. But there were lots of days when approaching projects or writing assignments could not and did not happen. Depression can be cruel. There were days she couldn't leave her room, but things did improve. We spent a good bit of time working on her class schedules to shift to her strengths. She never wanted to take the easy path, she struggled through the challenging. Rachael took advantage of the dual enrollment program that offered free college classes that earned college credit and met a high school requirement. She took 4 courses at CCBC during high school, including her English requirements for 11th and 12th. This meant less papers and hitting the goal in a semester. Rachael also took 10 AP courses over her four years and balanced them with lots of music and art classes. For her efforts she was decorated with a collection of honor cords, a diploma and a big awesome party.
Graduation was on Friday evening and was held at the new UMBC event center. The event center is big and we had tickets for the whole family. Rachael was playing with the band so she had to arrive really early. She would need to eat so I offered to make her a sandwich to take along. She requested PB&J in honor of the hundreds she had gotten over her school years. I packed the sandwich but in the rush to get there on time it was left at the house. I put it in my purse and the rest of the family got dressed and ready to go. We got good seats and I was pleased that the giant screen would make everything easy to see. When we got settled I then set out to deliver the sandwich and wound up passing it off to another band member. It took some time but the bandmate found her.
The graduation ceremony moved well and one of the 2 student speakers was really great. It was time to confer the diplomas. Because Rachael was in the band she was seated at the back of the class and not in alphabetic order. They were lined up but her name was called in a different order than the way they lined up. I missed filming it but I didn't miss experiencing it. I am so proud of her.
It was incredibly difficult to find her after the ceremony but we did and the smiles radiated. We got a bunch of pictures. Rachael wanted the chance to say some goodbyes and I went around with her, capturing the pictures she wanted. Jim headed to the van with the girls and Johanna, who was done with the standing around.
It also happened to be the night of our nephew, Martin's graduation party. The van battery died so we got a jump and hurried to the party. They were starting to clean up when we arrived but they were happy to let us grab a quick bite to eat, chat for a bit and offer Martin our congratulations. It was a great night.
The next morning we kicked into party hosting gear. I pulled out the checklists and we got to work. I had been cooking for the past few days, and we had done some prep ahead of time so it was manageable. We had been planning on using the back yard for the party but the weather forecast was calling for rain all day. Then every time I checked my weather app, the rain chance decreased and the times shortened. We adjusted the plan to have food inside, but we were expecting over 80 people so we still needed seating outside. We borrowed a big tent from Becky and Erik, and Jim got that set up after trying to make it a little waterproof.
Everyone pitched in with cleaning and setup and food prep, and soon our taco bar was ready. We had a similar menu for Emma's party and the school colors were the same so we just had to tweak the plans. For Rachael's party I put together a picture slide show of her birthday pictures, first day of school pictures, and friends and family over the years. Jim got it to play on the living room TV and it was fun to see Rachael's face in all of its stages every time I went through the living room. The guests enjoyed it too.
A steady mist started at the beginning of the party and the tent mostly kept people dry as they used the 3 tables on the patio. Rachael and her friends mostly hung out in the basement and Rachael would come up and make the rounds through the house and backyard every once in a while, greeting the guests. We set up a display of Rachael's certificates and honor cords, and we put out art pieces she was proud of. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. Rachael beamed all weekend. I had a great time celebrating Rachael, her graduation and all that she accomplished. Collectively we cheered her on to her next phase.
She did it!
It is harder these days to grab time with Jim and all of the girls at the same time but we made sure to celebrate Jim's birthday. On one of his days off, Jim and the three youngest girls and I went to Guinness for dinner. We had a good time seeing Jim's co-workers and having dinner.
