Pomp and Circumstance

It's official: Luke is now a pre-K graduate. We had all of the festivities last night, and what a trip it was. Uncle Bill was the event photographer, and we are eagerly awaiting his photos from the evening, but until then, you just have to deal with my amateurish snapshots and read a bunch of words.

The ceremony started with each of the kids marching up to the stage slowly (to "Pomp and Circumstance"); then they sang a few songs - one in Spanish, one with the sign language alphabet; and then they each came down from the rafters for a diploma. When the director handed out the diplomas, each kid had to say his or her name loudly into the microphone. It was kind of a blur to me, but this is how several people described it: Five or so kids went and spoke in a someone restrained manner, to polite applause; then Luke got up, and said his name so exuberantly that a cheer sort of rose up in the audience; and following that the kids and the families were much more animated and enthusiastic. (I know what you're thinking: Leave it to the kid's mom to somehow imagine that the graduation ceremony was all about her child.) After that we had a nice dinner with Suzi and Bill and friends, and everyone had a great time except for poor Zach who is having a rough week for a couple of different reasons including sickness and overtiredness.

People have been asking me, "Did it make you cry?" Well, I felt all melt-y and goosh-y inside but I didn't really cry - I was too entertained by the whole spectacle. But I'll tell you something much more real that almost made me cry today:

Zach loves trains, right? A few weeks ago I took Zach to the little mini-train ride in the mall near us, thinking he'd have a blast. As it turned out he was a little scared and didn't want to ride it without me (no parents allowed on the train). So today, Luke and Zach had off from school and (given that I had a bunch of unused tickets from a few weeks ago) I decided to bring them both to the train ride. Luke held Zach's hand, they walked in there together, and Luke sat next to Zach right up in front at the engine. As the train started up, Luke put his arm around Zach's shoulders and kept it there, protectively, while they went around the tracks. A minute or so into the ride, I saw Luke showing Zach how to push the red button to make the whistle blow; then they sat back again, with Luke's arm draped over his brother's shoulders. I would have given anything to have a camera, but then again, maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed the moment so much. I just loved seeing Luke, with his baseball cap on at a jaunty angle, looking like such a great big brother; and Zach, with his saucer-wide eyes, finally feeling safe enough to enjoy the ride. Now there's a tear-jerker for you.