The herons are busy in Audubon Park these days, molting and nesting on the Island Rookery.

The number of birds on these few trees is staggering- especially when you take into account that each one is around 3 feet high:

I’ll go back in a month or so and see if we can get pics of chicks.

I just love their backs, so crazy.

And when we finally get some Fuschia, I’ll know we’re really out of the cold.

So we got through last night.

The girls were all gorgeous, naturally, and looking like not a few of them had been crying before going out; over the years I’ve noticed that this is where graduation suddenly starts being real to them, which strange, given that their lockers are already cleared out, and exams taken.

The Sophomores put on a skit for the Seniors, using all kinds of inside jokes that you’d have to be a student to get and making fun of their teachers. This year’s was video-game themed, and the title aptly chosen (sigh):

In the end I managed to not bawl, or even get (overly) misty during the actual ceremony. It was all the lead up stuff that got to me, don’t ask me why. Watching, from outside the fence, as the girls turned after their portrait, heading back into the building, using the stairs that are off limit to all but seniors when they’re barely still seniors at all…

What can I say? I’m a sucker for symbolism…

The only point at which I got emotional was when the girls started filing in, and someone had chosen Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, which was, you know…odd.

In case Coldplay’s not your cup of tea, the song is one of mourning and regret, of a life of power and importance lost. It’s melancholy yet bombastic, and though quite beautiful, uh, what’s the message here?

(Link to the video here.)

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
…
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand
…
For some reason I can’t explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

As if watching your child graduate wasn’t emotional enough, right? Now we have to consider the times we each thought we were masters of all we surveyed, only to watch it crash and burn…and now we get to re-realize that our kids are going to have to fall down those same damned holes and drag themselves out, all while wondering if their best days are behind them? Argh!

Thanks for the uplifting message, guys!

Anyway, as a dry-run for graduation, everybody did okay. No promises for the real thing.

I’ve been pretty good about this kid-gonna-graduate business, but tonight’s gonna be a sniffy one. Incoming Freshman at her school get a ‘big sister-’ an incoming Junior to show them the ropes. Then, just before graduation, the little sisters thank the big sisters before being promoted to being big sisters in their own right.

Got it? Moving on, moving up, growing, milestones…and yeah, okay sappy. Whatever. I’m not much of crier, but when Ali was the incoming Junior, I got weepy, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before she was the one wearing the white dress and moving on.

And so, practically over night, here we are:

I got sniffly just dropping her off, so I know it’s gonna put the makeup to the test tonight. So I have to head back to the school shortly for the ceremony, which amounts to a graduation warm up. Just imagine what that’ll be like. o_O

Click to check out the detail.

Usually I buy them in baskets, but this year I started with a small plant and we’ll see how long I can nurse it along before it kicks it.

This year it’s recovered from transplanting and even came through our unusually cold winter like a champ (if you ignore a little blackspot).