Benjamin, our
youngest, graduated from high school today, June 14, 2015. This was our fifth
graduation at Lakewood High School.
As we’ve been
going to last minute senior meetings and functions, and seeing the same people
we’ve seen for twelve years, my husband Murray tells them, “We’ve had kids in
public school for twenty years now, and we’re tired of it.”
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| Benjamin, our final high-school graduate. |
Are we? Am I?
I’ve been trying
to bring back memories of all those years, and more and more have sneaked in.
We lived in Kansas
for five years and never had a close tornado until the last few months. We
heard the warning that people should find shelter and made our way into the
storage closet in the basement.
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| The whole family with Sarah, who graduated from high school in 2010. |
Of course, Murray
had to go upstairs and take a look, and he found the school-bus driver sitting
in the bus outside, waiting. He brought her inside to sit in the closet with us
until everything was clear.
One of the most
fun things I remember from the early years is sitting on the trampoline by the
front door, waiting with the kids for the bus, and reading some of our favorite
books—Narnia and Little House.
We’ve always told
people that if they have a baby on the birthday of someone in our family, we’ll
buy the baby a savings bond for $100. Sarah’s first grade teacher had a baby on
December 17, Benjamin’s second birthday, so she collected.
When we lived in
New York, the three middle kids were walking to school one day. Either Caleb’s
or Sarah’s cane fell into a grate, and Rebecca decided to try to get it out
with the other cane. Surprisingly, that one got lost in the grate too.
When I went back
to work, and Murray got to be the stay-at-home parent, I moved to Cleveland
about ten days before the rest of the family. Caleb said, when he came home
from school one night while I was gone, “I don’t know what to do with my
backpack.” (Since I wasn’t there to look through it with him.) Over the years,
I’ve loved that I could actually read some of Caleb’s and Benjamin’s school
papers, because they were in Braille.
We moved quite a
bit in the early years, and all the kids but Benjamin did a lot of school
jumping. Through moving and then searching for the right school for her once we
were settled, Rebecca has a special memory of fourth grade. “I was the new kid
four times that year.”
For the twelve
school years I worked, Murray had responsibility for almost all of the kids’
needs. He talks about when he’d go with Benjamin to preschool meetings and
get-togethers. “It was me and the other moms.”
Murray also got to
handle most of the homework. He journeyed with the kids through Algebra II and
geometry. We won’t even discuss how far I could have gotten.
The kids had fun
projects. Murray says one of his favorite was helping Benjamin with a report on
the Wright brothers and everything that went into getting a first flight. When
Benjamin studied the history of the typewriter, I had my Mom send my old manual
typewriter for him to take to school on the day of his presentation. Rebecca
wrote a report on the safety of the subbasement in their school.
Our pet box
turtle—Murray named him Scumbo—spent Rebecca’s fifth grade as the classroom
pet.
In Sixth grade,
Caleb won the “All Around Best Student Award.” As a senior, Sarah received the
Wellesley College Book award, recommended by her teachers.
Other great
memories. When I got home from work on Rebecca’s first day of high school, I
jumped on her, hugging her and wailing, “I remember the day you were born.” She
wrestled with me until we were both on the floor, then said, “You are so
weird.”
Caleb got his
guide dog, Esther, when he was seventeen. Every day of his senior year in high
school, she attended with him. So of course, she walked with him at graduation
too. He bought her a graduation hat for dogs. She didn’t like it much, but
she’s a good sport.
Ping-Hwei decided
he wanted to color his hair, like other kids in high school did. He wanted red
hair, like Murray’s. Ping-Hwei has black hair, so Murray colored it white, then
red. It turned out to be more orange, but Ping-Hwei smiled and went to school.
When Rebecca was
in seventh grade, she had her head shaved for a fundraiser for research on
children’s cancer. The school allowed her to wear a head covering for a while,
but the first day after, she went to school bald.
Band, orchestra
and choir concerts, IEP and other school meetings, football games the eight
years Caleb and Benjamin were in the marching band. I confess—I only made it to
a few of the football games. We were in the audience this year when Benjamin’s
Academic Challenge team was on TV.
Now the older four
kids have jobs, and Benjamin will start college in the fall. This chapter in
our lives is over, and I’m not sure I’m glad.
But knowing our
kids, I’m sure more exciting chapters are still ahead.