Dear Henry

Yesterday was a toughie - maybe one of the toughest in the last 5 years. First thing in the morning we went to Joe's kindergarten graduation (I told Mom that I only recall graduating from high school and college - who invented these other ones?); then off to the cemetery for some time at your gravesite; and then back to JPDS for a special ceremony to dedicate Henry's Garden.



When I was at Joe's class, one of my friends, Jeannie, asked me if I felt "mixed emotions." I just kinda shrugged, but inside I was thinking,

"Nothing mixed about it. Totally and terribly sad. That's it."

Sure, I was psyched for Joe, but the Henry Garden dedication and the knowledge that your class of 2008 was "graduating" from JPDS without you has been chipping away at what is left of my heart. One of the things we used to hear after you were born were estimates of how long you'd live with school grades as benchmarks. You wouldn't live past kindergarten or first grade was what I think we heard most often. So these school milestones -- Joe leaving kindergarten behind and your class leaving JPDS -- has made me very sad.

The cemetery was less than peaceful. I think that is how they describe cemeteries - as places to reside peacefully for eternity. The construction of the Christian School of Washington is getting near the end, but the backhoes and pickups still are making a pretty big ruckus. Hopefully by next fall the school will be done, be open and all we'll hear is the laughing of the kids at school.