Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Another Milestone

Eighth grade graduation seems like a fairly trumped-up excuse to make your 8th grader put on nice clothes and sit through a ceremony. Still, they did a nice job and I begrudginly trudged along to the school. I guess 8th grade is hailed as a milestone because the next stop is high school. Tucker and I fought about what he would wear. We had a nice white shirt with a very pale blue plaid in it that fit him well. No. He wanted a solid blue shirt. We had none of those and I refused to go buy one for the single night of use. I'm already hemorrhaging money for Grace's graduation and subsequent journey to college. Plus, Tucker's class leaves today for Washington DC, which is another expense. (I had regrets as I lay in bed last night and decided I should have sprung for the new shirt.) Tucker refused to wear a tie and then balked at the dress shoes and went for tennis shoes. I let him choose.

Most everyone was dressed up. The girl in the front row on the left in the white dress is Tucker's girlfriend. They break up sometimes, but always end up getting back together.
Some of the girls looked much older than the boys. This was enhanced by towering heels and sometimes risque clothing.
Tucker was recognized for being a finalist in the Geography Bee, winning the President's Physical Fitness Award and Merit Roll. Everyone got an 8th grade diploma.
Afterwards, he handed me his envelope with the awards and was anxious to see me leave. The dance was starting!

I made him pose for one picture with a friend before I left him to it.
And, as bad as I felt later that he wasn't in a shirt that fit and looked nice, I knew that he'd made more effort than many of the parents.

Here was a guy sitting a few rows in front of me. His shirt says "Do it Hoggy Style." This is a play on words that has sexual connotations and also advertises a restaurant. Now why didn't I think to wear something like that to 8th grade graduation?

4 comments:

Sheila said...

Man I hope the Hoggy's guy doesn't read your blog. :) Congrats to Tucker.

I was just thinking how different our lives are since you entered the school world and we're still in the homeschooling world. Sometimes I get sad that my kids will miss all those types of milestones, but then i read about Tuckers girlfriends and I think I can live with them missing out. :)

Anonymous said...

Yah done good Mom !

Stephanie said...

"My" 8th grader refused to wear dress pants to Honor's night, choosing a polo shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes instead. Wonderful Mom that I am, I decided to count the # of middle school boys who were dressed similarly as they walked up on stage (3, including mine). I wanted to make a point with this statistic (See? You should have worn dress pants!) but Mr. Popular could have cared less (sigh).

Linda said...

My daughter would have worn all black and baggie pants, grunge style but, luckily, they were required to wear uniforms at the school she was at. That solves a lot of problems.

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