Throwback Thursday # 53: The Beginning and the End

"Your families are extremely proud of you. You can't imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money." ~Gary Bolding

It all started in 1990. And it all ended last weekend, in 2011. Graduations, that is. Little Brother's graduation from college marked the end of our family's formal education and the end of graduations. To celebrate the occasion, I thought it might be fun to look back on graduations of old.

1990 - Kindergarten

Don't even get me started on the dress. There are no words. What I remember most about kindergarten graduation is how I was totally traumatized. Picture it--seven year old Tiffany is preparing for graduation. This included preparing with my dad for my speaking part in the class play, "Are You My Mother." Then one day at school it came time to make our graduation hats. You know, the ones that are basically made out of cardstock that sort of look like real hats? So.....here comes the trauma.....they meausre my head only to realize that it's somehow enormous and that my hat would need to be specially made from extra card stock. I like to think it was just all the brains crammed in there that took up a lot of space. What was with me and childhood hat trauma?

1993 - Little Brother Kindergarten

This will be the only graduation without photos for the blog. I know they exist, but my mom wasn't able to find them in her boxes upon boxes of photos. Trust me when I say he graduated. And wore a little paper hat. That wasn't specially made. Yea yea.

1998 - 8th Grade

The school where we went for about 5 years did 8th grade graduation. Here is a picture of my 8th grade class. You know a couple of these folks.....I've labeled First Valentine, Teacher Friend and The Cheerleader for your nosey pleasure. Crazy to think that was so many years ago now! (FYI....by the time Little Brother was in 8th grade, we had changed schools and they didn't do an 8th grade graduation. Just didn't want you all to think he flunked or something!)

2002 - High School

As we've discussed before, I come from a small town and a small school. Here was my high school graduating class. All 20 of us. (I've pointed out High School Buddy, Blue Eyes and Mrs. Blue Eyes).

And here is me and the parents, and one of my friends and judging teammates. We were all like family, so it was normal for him to hop right in the picture.

2006 - Little Brother High School and me Oklahoma State

2006 was a big year for our family, with two graduations in two weeks.

First, I graduated from college at Oklahoma State. As you recently read in this blog post, that was a pretty bitter sweet experience!

Two weeks later, the family all gathered back home for Little Brother's high school graduation. (Note: The other kiddo in this picture is brothers with the kid in my high school grad picture. Told you we were like family!)

2009 - Law School

Three LONG years later, it was time for the family to gather up again to celebrate our first lawyer. I hope that everyone has a group of people like this to support them when they achieve goals, because it sure makes life better!

2011 - Little Brother College

And, like I said, it came to an end last weekend.

The family and friends descended on Little Brother's college town to celebrate his day. For a kid who has never liked school, called his 5th year of collegea "victory lap" and whose theme was "Too smart for a 2.0, too much fun for a 4.0" this was a pretty darn big day!


We've come a pretty long way in the last 21 years.....