"Moving On" Ceremony

Another milestone was reached here in the Den today as the Boy graduated from junior high school. Forgive me for referencing "graduation" as, apparently, it must be called a "moving on" ceremony. The word "graduation" was nowhere to be seen at today's event. I don't know if it's been banned or made illegal (I mean it's not like we live in Arizona, where the creation of insane laws - and you know which one I'm talking about - remember to have your passport at the ready at all times there - has been raised to a sick art form), but it was all about moving on today. Some thoughts on today's event:

- Having the ceremony in an unairconditioned junior high gymnasium was brilliant, especially in what has been the hottest and most humid week of the entire year!
- Jamming hundreds of parents into said sweatbox, blocking all exits was an even more brilliant idea. The Fire Marshall would have had an epic seizure had he shown up.
- Kudos to the parents who shopped the big blowout sale at "Whores 'R Us" for the dresses many of the girls were wearing. Unbelievable!
- And props to the parent that let their 8th grade daughter get a tattoo. Wow...well done. Seriously.

Now, the Boy. He's a good kid. He's closer to 15 years old now and he's growing up. He makes us enormously proud. He really does. He brings us a tremendous amount of happiness. He's a typical teen-age boy and some of the stuff he does makes us shake our heads. But you know what, he's just plain awesome. He's pretty much ready for high school. His sister, CAL, will be a senior as he enters his freshman year. I'm sure she'll roll out the 'welcome mat' for him. She'll have to, otherwise I'll take her car away from her. It's good to be the dad.

We'll wrap up the night going out to dinner to celebrate the Boy's day. It's been a good day.