A Special Day

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Little dirndls and petticoats, where have you gone?
Turn around and you're two,
Turn around and you're four,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of the door.

by Malvina Reynolds 

Today is a surprisingly emotional day for me. It's a day I've known was coming for many years but suddenly it's here and I've been on the verge of tears all day. My niece Ann Marie graduated from high school today, the same high school I graduated from.

Let me introduce you to Ann Marie. She is the daughter of my brother, Dan and my sister-in-law, Michele. She has an older brother, Eddie.

Eddie and Ann Marie have always been best friends.

Ann Marie has always been stylish.

I think this is my very favorite picture of her taken on her first birthday.

She and I have a few things in common. We both love to read.

And we both love animals.

She has been brought up knowing that girls can do anything, so when Eddie started playing hockey, she decided to play, too.

 

 

If you're a hockey fan, or even if you aren't, you should go to a pee wee hockey game. You'll laugh till you cry, but you'll admire the heart and effort those tykes put into the game.

Though she played for a couple seasons, Ann Marie left hockey for the soccer fields. While Eddie was winning hockey trophies, she was winning soccer trophies.

She continued playing all thru high school.

I remember her in pre-school as if it were yesterday.

And this morning she was preparing to graduate from high school.

Her parents have raised a beautiful and talented daughter.

We're all so proud of her.

Michele has promised to send me a picture from graduation and I'll share it.