Senior Awards: Class of 2011

Last night was Senior Awards Night, my baby girl was being honored with other classmates in her Senior Class.

Graduation is exactly two weeks away, it's all so surreal.

It seems like just yesterday I was dropping her off on the first day of kindergarten; a day that would be forever embedded in my heart.

*I remember putting her hair up in pigtails, buttoning up her white, long sleeve shirt then placing her overall wool dress over her head, the one that had white pinstripes. She sat on the edge of her twin size bed as I helped her put on her whites tights and buckle her black shoes. After, I stepped back, looked at her and thought, "She's about to take on the world!"

We all assembled in the auditorium anxiously waiting for the morning to be over.

The teachers were already there gathered in front of us and started to explain to some of us, new parents, what it meant if our child was an "early bird" or "late bird" and then proceeded to call for their students....our babies.

I watched as one by one stood behind their respective teacher, like a baby duckling behind its mother. I looked at each teacher and thought, "YOU will be the first outside my world to teach MY child about her ABC's, 123's and be thankful that I named her "Isis", so when the time came; it would be easy for her to spell her name...be good to my child and make an impression that will forever be rooted in her soul."

I watched children scared, some timid, some smiled, some with no expression at all, some cried...actually no..alot cried and then when it came to my baby girl to be called...I was fearful of which of these categories she would fall under...she amazed me by standing up nice and tall, went to stand behind a petite, red headed female with a nametag that read, "Miss Cooper"...my baby looked back at me with a look of, "Don't worry Mommy, I GOT THIS..." and smiled.

The classes started to walk out one by one and as I watched my little girl disappear behind the door, the inevitable happened....MY tears fell.*

Back then my last thought at that moment was:

My baby girl is growing up.

Last night almost 13 years later...I had that same feeling, but this time:

My Baby Girl Grew Up!!!