Senior Awards and Reflections
June 8, 2011
The seniors in their caps and gowns were starting to stream in and take their seats in the center of Beckman High's gymnasium when I settled on a corner of the nearest available bench high up in the crowded stands and heard someone call out my name. Audrey's friend, Jennifer, was sliding in next to me. "Hi, Jen! Why're you here?" I blurted out cheerily. It took me a moment to think straight after Jen shot me an odd look and mumbled accusingly, "Remember David, my brother?"
I was so embarrassed I became temporarily mute. Of course, David! David was Jen's younger brother about to graduate in the same class with Andrea, my second daughter, just as Jen was in the same graduating class with Audrey, my eldest. Only a couple of weeks ago I had congratulated Jen on David's college acceptance at both Duke and Cornell after Jen shared the good news with us when she hung out with Audrey at our home! How could I have forgotten? For sure I'd come across to Jen not as scatterbrained, but unbelievably insincere and self-centered.
I was so embarrassed I became temporarily mute. Of course, David! David was Jen's younger brother about to graduate in the same class with Andrea, my second daughter, just as Jen was in the same graduating class with Audrey, my eldest. Only a couple of weeks ago I had congratulated Jen on David's college acceptance at both Duke and Cornell after Jen shared the good news with us when she hung out with Audrey at our home! How could I have forgotten? For sure I'd come across to Jen not as scatterbrained, but unbelievably insincere and self-centered.
I had nothing to say in my defense except the truth... that I'd just had an extraordinary harebrain moment. I was too humiliated to further reveal that since I hit the big 5-0, this has become the norm rather than an aberration. My memory's shot to pieces and I make my children snicker almost daily by calling each of them repeatedly by another child's name. I've also had to make a lot of U-turns lately as I would leave my neighborhood in the morning and head in one direction or another without being fully aware of where I was supposed to end up.
From the way Jen reacted, I knew the truth didn't come off nearly convincing, so I lamely added, "You'll understand when you get to my age." By now Jen looked rather disgusted, and I didn't blame her, for I could understand how her lively teenager self wouldn't want to be likened to someone absentminded and ancient like me. I debated whether it would make Jen feel better if I admitted I'd forgotten even my own daughter's graduation just weeks before, let alone David's, but decided to withhold that bit of information to avoid further embarrassing myself.
IVC Commencement Exercise
May 20, 2011
I've asked Andrea the same question for a month and never got a firm answer whether we should plan to attend her commencement exercise at Irvine Valley College or not. It didn't seem a big deal to her, and with our family celebrating 3 graduations this summer in addition to squeezing in many end-of-the-year activities for the kids, I myself was on the fence about pushing the issue. So when in her typical understated manner, Andrea informed me a day before the ceremony that we needed to stop by IVC's bookstore after school to purchase her cap & gown, I figured we'd be going after all.
My parents had insisted they wanted to join us even though they knew they'd be repeating practically the same experience very soon (Andrea had participated in a pilot early college program and finished her associate degree from IVC just weeks before she was set to graduate from Beckman High). I promised I would drop by their apartment to carpool with them later in the day after my last-minute run to the mall to get an appropriate dress for Andrea to wear under her gown. She's a tomboy who had maybe 2 or 3 dresses in her closet, which she avoided like the plague. Luckily, not only did I manage to pick up the cutest textured satin sheath in a perfect shade between blush pink and lavender for 40% off the clearance price at Ann Taylor (the problem was how to convince Andrea to wear it!), but I also squared away three other errands in record time: buying Lauren's dance dress for a family event planned for next week, my own outfit for the same party, and a bag of See's dark chocolate-covered almonds as a surprise treat for Andrea. I felt incredibly efficient and was awash in a bubbly, smug, self-congratulatory mood driving home. It might seem a small thing that I was ahead of schedule for a short stretch on this particular day, but I was so used to chasing my tail every single day that even a tiny, occasional victory against the clock would empower me with a false sense of invincibility. It wasn't until I was halfway home that it dawned on me I wasn't running early... I was in fact more than half an hour late, because Andrea, like all the other seniors, needed to be dropped off at their graduation venue 1 1/2 hours before the ceremony's starting time!
I started racing the rest of the way with that familiar awful feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I suddenly discovered I was behind... AGAIN! What kind of mother forgot their own daughter's graduation? Aarghh!!!
As I turned the corner into our neighborhood, I realized with tremendous relief I'd also forgotten the most welcomed news… that Audrey had earned her driver's license just a few weeks earlier and could step in as emergency chauffer for her siblings! Apparently she had. As I burst through the front door to find Audrey calmly working on her finals project, she looked up at me beaming and proudly nodded when I breathlessly asked if Andrea got to IVC on time. Hallelujah!
Andrea walking across the field to receive her high school diploma
June 15, 2011
