Straight Outta CAL

On Friday, Savannah's senior class walked out of school for the last time as CAL students.  Those who started at CAL in elementary started in the elementary wing saying goodbye to teachers and students.  They picked up those who started in middle school in the middle school wing and proceeded through that part of the school and then finally picked up those who started in high school in the high school to walk those halls one last time.  The plan was then to walk out the front doors and meet parents on the school lawn.  The best laid plans did go awry yesterday when a steady rain drenched the lawn and continued threatening to drench any who ventured outside.  Instead of meeting parents on the lawn, the parents met the class in the gym.  Therefore, we rebels actually got to catch glimpses of the walk in the building before the kids made it to the gym.  They call Savannah a lifer because she started at CAL in kindergarten and never left.

Once the kids made it to the gym, it was a picture taking festival as they tried to record those last memories in the school building.  

E was Savvy's first school friend.  They re-enacted this kindergarten pose of the two of them.  E left Savvy's campus in the middle of kindergarten so that her family could be closer to the school and to guarantee a spot for which she had been waiting.  That move impacted these inseparable friends in a big way.  It was painful.  They reunited when Savvy moved to the big campus in middle school, but both had established other, strong friendships.  In high school they started running around with the same crowd again and will actually be on the same college campus this fall.

They call themselves the squad.  This big group has supported each other through thick and thin in these last years of school.  I love them all.  Savannah could not have a better group of friends. Just this week she realized what she is leaving behind.  For months her focus has been on the adventure awaiting her in college, but she had not considered how hard it would be to not see her squad every day in school.

In the last few months, I would say E and Savvy have become the best of friends. Both these girls are truly kind.  They put others first and would rather let a friend bare her soul and pain so that they can lend support than reveal their own. Tomorrow they will celebrate this momentous occasion together, gathering their friends and family in one place.  Pulling it together has been so hard with all the senior activities that some of the invitations never got distributed.  It has been difficult to plan a graduation party where the kids can be together and celebrate and to make sure no one feels obligated to bring gifts.  It has involved a lot of last minute stuff.  Even tomorrow, they will slip away briefly to celebrate with classmates who are also having a party because these girls are important to each other. We would hope those sweet girls could then make it to Savvy and E's party, but as parties go, they will likely be finishing up their own gathering until ours ends.

I will miss my driver.  Starting this week, it will be on me to pick Wyatt and Julia up from school, and it will be on Andy to deliver them there.  By the way Wyatt was quite reluctant to hug his sister when she saw him in the middle school wing, and Julia was not much better.  Say what!?

Per school tradition, students trash their uniforms on the last day.  Savannah incorporated the elementary and middle school plaids in the pleats of her skirt.  She did a cool thing with a class t-shirt that says "home" really big on the back.  Above the "home", she wrote goodbye.  Below it, she wrote CAL.

This week will be another busy one.  We will attend a track banquet, baccalaureate, and finish the week with graduation.  The pool opens next weekend, and I have promised myself that I will be poolside even if I have to wrap up in a blanket for at least an hour one day that weekend- unless it rains.

We did not do a video for Savannah.  There just wasn't time, but if we had, I would have used Rod Stewart's Forever Young for the music, so I will end this post with some of the lyrics.

May the good Lord be with you down every road you roam.  May sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home.  May you grow to be strong, dignified and true - and do unto others as you'd have done to you.  Be courageous and be brave.

I am so excited, my sweet girl, to see how much you love college, but these years came and went far too fast.