Toasting the grad

My little baby sister graduated high school on Saturday. The family sat in the balcony which were good seats but bad for picture taking. In the crowd of purple gowns and caps below us, I see my sister's face looking in the balcony for us, beaming. I waved, she waved back and her smile took over her face. I felt my throat catch at the sight of her. This is a very happy day.

This is more or less the toast my dad gave my sister this weekend at her open house.

I realized this morning that this will be the last graduation of one of my kids. (Libby interupts. Libby: What about college? Dad: Let’s hope so) I forget how important of an experience this is to a young… and naïve person. It’s exciting to think about how much life you have ahead of you to experience and how much you’ll grow and learn.
When Libby was little, about a year old, I started telling her, “don’t get fancy”. This meant don’t go running off. Stick where I can see you. When she was about 2 ½ or 3, we were at McDonald’s and she stood up and said to me, “dad, I want to get fancy”. She wanted to run out one entrance door and back in the other door. Anyway, what I'm saying is now I guess I’ll have to let her go and get fancy.

Cheers!