Senior Sunset

Not long ago, Maddie saw her first Senior Sunrise with fellow seniors, and here we are just a few months later it seems, and she returned to Half Mile Stadium to see her Senior Sunset.  

She had been tentative about attending this one, particularly because the forecast was more rain - we've had so much rain lately.  But once the rain went away this morning, it did not come back, and in fact the overcast skies shifted off and it turned out to be a really nice sunset.

Oh, and there was ice cream!  There's our Spider-man ice cream pop!  How awesome is that?  Maddie didn't get one for the Senior picnic, so it was pretty awesome to get one now.  It was nice, all the seniors hanging out at the football field for one last time of relaxed fellowship together.  The next time they see each other will be graduation!

Everyone keeps asking us how we feel about all this, the idea of Maddie growing up.  Usually this is mentioned with the phrase "so fast."  And it does feel like that.  It also feels like another lifetime ago, and possibly even feels like someone else's life I'm looking back on within these pages.  The truth is that we're so busy right now that it's impossible to stop and think about all the implications and emotions.  I suppose it'll eventually sink in and we'll sit there somewhat bittersweetly thinking about the passage of time.  But it helps that it's all been good.  I think it was Dr. Seuss who said "Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened."  And that's what we are right now - happy that Maddie is happy, and that she's been happy.  Sure, we've had a few things happen here or there, but on the whole we are amazingly blessed, and she is an amazingly good daughter with a heart three times the size of that of many others.  She's remarkable, and while we did do our best, we can't take all the credit of course.  God's grace has been over our family in astounding ways, and in regards to Maddie's character, she's made many good choices.  Of course, there are areas to improve, but that's with all of us.  So as the sun sets on her senior year, we can truly be happy about all that goes on.  Sad that it's over, yes, but very happy that it all happened, and that it happened the way it did.

 

This last picture here is an interesting one, because it's a recreation of a picture taken at Senior Sunrise, with everyone in the same positions.

So it was a busy day today.  Maddie had graduation practice this morning.  There was a Senior Breakfast together, and after that all the seniors were bussed over to the Cumming Fairgrounds where they did graduation practice together.  It was long and fairly boring for her, and a little after noon, she got home.  The sunset was tonight of course, but before then, Maddie and Team Edge visited the Edge Studio to do a performance of their routine for the younger students who were testing for belts.  It was a big, big crowd.  I took several pictures of Team Edge as they  did their demonstration - below you'll see more of Maddie and the others doing a fabulous run-through.

Maddie went out to eat at a hibachi place with her senior friends tonight after the sunset, and after getting home, it was about time to get some sleep.  We're getting up earlier tomorrow.  So tonight the Plush Entourage headed down the hall, and tonight we finished up "Carpe Jugulum."  We'll leave the Discworld for one book tomorrow, but it's been fun reading these.  We said our prayers afterwards, and after that, it was time for some sleep!