June 16, 2012

YOU DID IT!

it's official, parker has completed grade 7!




way to go, buddy! YOU DID IT!


never in a million years did i expect to get the number of messages that came in nor the unbelievably thoughtful & touching affirmations that they contained. your messages were incredible. many of them had me doing the ugly cry…



"THE UGLY CRY (urban dictionary):
You know you're doing the ugly cry when you lose COMPLETE CONTROL of all of the muscles in your face, start heaving and making awkward sounds (even though you are trying really hard to be silent), and start leaking fluids from every opening on your face from your hairline to your chin (yes, this includes the mouth)."


my original idea had been to print off the emails and put them in a binder to give him during our special grad dinner we had for him. that was my original idea...that is, until your messages began to trickle in... as i bawled my way thru reading them, it became very clear to me that a 3 ring binder was not a fitting home for the incredible messages i was receiving.



your words are gifts that will be cherished and treasured for many years. they will speak into the life of my son – both now and in the years to come. as such, they deserved to be displayed in a way that was honoring of the depth of love and emotion that they contain. 


so i scrap booked them. 


i've taken the liberty of posting a few pics from some of the pages of the book. (i blurred for privacy.) 


***chagrined confession here: as you may notice, i also took the liberty of taking YOUR FB pics to include with your messages b/c i felt it was so important that he had a face to go with the name (i promise i only used your most flattering pics.)***


album cover


we planned a special little grad dinner for him and had decided to give him the scrapbook as the 'grand finale' to his grad day. to be honest, i wasn’t sure that a 12 year old would necessarily appreciate the significance of a sentimental scrap book. i really began to second guess my decision to present it as the 'big gift' when, to our utter amazement, some of you sent him awesome and very cool gifts. oh my word. how can i ever thank you for those unexpected and thoughtful gestures! wow. parker was beside himself with excitement - he was completely blind-sided in a good way (as were we). 


as he opened them, he kept saying, 


"what in the world? i wasn't expecting anything like this, i was just excited we were ordering in chinese food for dinner!"


when he opened a package that contained a gift card to the lego store. i gulped hard and thought, 
"oh dear, how in the world will a scrapbook hold muster to that?" 



but this is parker we’re talking about it. the significance of your words were not lost on him. he opened the book and began to reverently thumb threw it in utter and complete astonishment.




after a few moments, he lifted his head from the pages, clutched the book to his chest, and hugging it hard, and with misty eyed wonder whispered over and over,


"I love it. I love it. I love it."


he then spent the remainder of his grad day saying over and over,

"I can't believe there are so many people out there who care about me." 


he went to bed with his book...and read it late into the night. 




THANK YOU FRIENDS - because of you, parker's grad day was truly grand and chock full of the things that are real, relevant and important in life; the knowledge that you are loved, that you are special, and that you matter. your messages are gifts that will be treasured for years to come...and they still have me doing the ugly cry.


YOU DID IT!


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