My baby’s all grown up. Sad faces all round…though I am relieved he survived my cooking.
This was him seven years ago:
This was him two weeks ago:
That uniform really lasted!
Spud is now on study leave for his A Levels and then – idiocy and/or idleness notwithstanding – he’s off to university in the autumn.
The school gave them a good send off: Leavers’ Day started with a Full English Breakfast; followed by a huge dragon bouncy castle with tunnel and slide. As the Hub said, they filled them up then emptied them again…
Lots of fun activities ensued including a barbecue and the handing out of Most Likely To… certificates (decided by each student’s friends). Spud was found Most Likely To Run The Grand National, because his nickname is ‘Stallion’. I daren’t ask for details. Finally, they let off the traditional balloons in the school colours.
They were given leavers’ hoodies:
I asked why he was the number 14. So did the Hub. I admit it: sometimes, parents are stupid.
They received Year Books; but they didn’t write in them. The tradition is for each child to buy a hard notebook and pass it around; teachers and friends write pages and pages of memories, good and bad. It’s a lovely tradition. Spud read the clean ones out to us. I may have sobbed a little.
In the evening, they attended a Leavers’ Ball. Five of Spud’s friends came here for pre-ball drinks and post-ball sleep. What a funny world it is: hundreds of screaming teenagers on a bouncy castle in the morning and hundreds of screaming drunk teenagers bouncing on the dance floor in the evening.
They boys passed their school on the way there and back to the ball. Both times, they spontaneously burst into the first two lines of the school psalm (no one ever remembers the third-plus lines). ‘How middle class are we?’ asked Spud’s friend; before coming back to sleep on the floor of our council house and be fed a breakfast of homemade pancakes – some burned, some not; it’s the luck of the draw.
Spud has had seven happy years at a wonderful school. He has been given a first class education at their expense. He has great relationships with friends and teachers and many great memories.
It’s all downhill from here.
Happy future, darling.
Just when I thought I’d attended the graduations ceremonies for everyone on earth, I found one more, here! 😀
So glad you’ve finally downloaded both kiddos and can retire! Heh heh.
You are not old, though, until your baby has a baby, so keep on keeping on! ❤
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Gasp! How can my baby have a baby of his own? He was only a baby himself five minutes ago.
Congratulations on all the graduation ceremonies! We don’t do that here for high school; only for uni.
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Smart economy! We could learn… 🙂
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There some things that parents don’t need to know about, I can’t get Spud’s nickname out of my head 😉 Doesn’t time fly too quickly? Hooray for Spud!!
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Best wishes to Spud as he enter university!
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Well done Mr Spud, you have made you Mum and Dad very proud. I wish you all the luck there is for your future fortune
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*all surprised, like* You’re right, he HAS grown a bit.
Er … why 14? (So, obviously, are distant bloggers,)
A great event, fittingly marked.
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Hehe! The year they leave school…
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*trying not to show how idiotic he feels* Oh. Yip.
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Been there; got the hoodie… 🙂
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The Spudster rocks!
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Nah… his best days are yet to come. First, he’ll have a blast once relieved of any and all parental supervision (even though you seem to be a nice parent) and THEN the best days will be behind him as he recovers from hangovers and the like.
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Don’t even go there! My child will behave himself at university, I’m…sure?
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I’m sure he’ll behave himself just as well as you did. 🙂
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Ah, well I took my degree through the Open University, from home, looking after two kids and a poorly husband. If he’s anything like me, he’ll be exhausted 🙂
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And a parent of two within how many years? (sorry… couldn’t resist. 😉 )
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😀
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Congratulations!!! “leaver’s day” <<<< took me a few minutes (or more) to "get it". But now I do and I like it!! We really overdo the graduations …. my kids even "graduated" from kindergarten. With ceremony. silly. Then 8th grade. then high school. then college. then grad school. We're done now. whew.
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Good grief! And a new outfit for each, I suppose?
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I was too embarrassed to mention nursery school “graduation”. Yep. We did them, too.
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Good grief again!
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This is a sweet, heartfelt post. Congratuations to Spud, but also to Mom & Dad on a job well done.
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AWWWW! Congratulations to all of you!
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Thanks 🙂
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A bouncy castle? We got nothing at my school! Unfair!
Congratulations to Spud.
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What a great post, and you should be so, so proud of Spud and the fact that he has made the very best of the excellent education has provided. It will have set him up for an exciting future. 🙂
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I am; it will. 😀
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Spud Spuddddddddddd Spuddddddddddddddddddddddd.
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😀
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Bravo Spud, and Bravo Tilly and Hub for producing such fabulous kids.
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😀 Wait till you meet them before you rush to judgement 😀
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Congratulations, or is that condolences. I had to think a minute about the 14…duh! Gosh now that you don’t have to cook any more, perhaps we will see you around the blogosphere more often. PS why do the girls all look alike? And why are they sitting with Stallion?, er Spud?
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The girls love…I was going to write one neologism but changed my mind at the last minute and substituted this one instead…Spallion. 🙂
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No, it’s not a neologism; I mean a portmanteau word. Sorry.
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Congrats to Spud…and to his parents for surviving the years getting to the first graduation… onward to university. Bittersweet… more sweet than bitter.
Peace and love
Siggi
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Sigh…yes, it is…
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Spud has survived the journey, and so have you. I love the “homemade pancakes – some burned, some not; it’s the luck of the draw.” 😀 Good luck for the future, Spud.
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He’ll need it…I’m teaching him to cook this summer 😀
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Yikes!!
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😀 😀 😀
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I remember being a mixture of sad & proud the day I saw my daughter graduate. Now she’s 33 & she is more wise than I am (about certain things). I love the advance of technology though because now we can Skype & see each other!
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It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Unless your eldest son has Skype but refuses to use it with you… 😦
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my mom can never read my year books. especially the last year – where all the guys who had ignored me for the past 5 years suddenly had confessions to leave. Some were sweet….. others, more on the Restricted side. gee thanks – where were y’all when I had no one to take me to the Prom?!
Best of luck in the future to him!
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I can’t believe YOU didn’t have a date for the Prom! Tell me you did. Please!
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Best wishes, Spud! And congratulations to you both!
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Love the idea of the bouncy castle – inspired! And, Spud, your mother’s wrong – for a few more years, university will keep you from catching yourself thinking that you are turning into your parents, but, after that, the downhill gradient is very steep. Good luck 🙂
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