Last Updated on May 7, 2018
How can it possibly be that time already???
I’m going to stop being a social researcher for a minute and just be an amazed mom. Jeff and I are entering an era that once seemed so far away, so unimaginable … our oldest child is graduating from her kindergarten through 8th grade middle school and heading to high school.
On Sunday I was in New York City to launch my new book, The Good News About Marriage, on Fox & Friends, and that afternoon I was strolling around visiting my old stomping grounds and saw this adorable dress at a street fair on Amsterdam and 75th.
She needed a dress that was navy blue or had navy blue accents for graduation. So I bought it. And then wanted to cry when I got home and she tried it on—the pattern of the dress is little birds taking flight.
Don’t get me wrong, we are very excited, very proud of our young—dare I say it—lady. No longer child … not quite woman … but yes a bright, beautiful, loving, and lovely young LADY! It was just yesterday that her daddy and I could fix anything and I mean just about anything with a hug, a kiss on the forehead, and the promise that it will get better.
The graduation from 8th grade means that she is about to enter a world that will become hers more than ours. She will navigate classes I can no longer help her with. (Well, let’s be honest, I stopped being able to help her with most of them long ago!) She will have to decide on her own friends—with input from me, but she will be the one who decides. Because all too soon, she’ll be physically able to drive herself to see the friends she wants to see, and do the things she wants to do. (Wait, what?)
She is graduating from 8th grade at the same school she has attended since she was a little tiny thing with the cutest short blond haircut that she wouldn’t be caught dead in today. And yet, the head and heart under today’s cool long hair have been affected by this amazing school in ways that will, we hope, stay with her for the rest of her life. Not only was this school a wonderful educational environment, it was a phenomenal environment of spiritual growth.
What a blessing this school, it’s administration, teachers, families, and staff have been to our family! How blessed we have been, knowing that our children are loved as well as taught, that godly behavior is modeled, and that the things that really matter in life really matter at their school. A true partnership of home and school: praying, teaching, training, sharing, living life out together, and growing in God’s ways.
As our daughter has grown academically, she has grown as a person … an artist … an athlete … a friend … a follower of Jesus.
Our son has a few more years at this precious school. We are grateful we don’t have to say goodbye. But tomorrow, it is a new transition for her, and we will watch our daughter walk across a stage and take flight.
Shaunti Feldhahn is a best selling author and nationally renowned speaker, best known for her break out book For Women Only that led to a series of other related titles. She has been featured on The Today Show, Fox News, K-Love radio and many other media outlets. Shaunti is the mother of two school age children she places as a priority while remaining a professional woman who seeks to equip others to find balance in their lives. Her much needed Life Ready Woman series was developed to help women understand their role in today’s “do-it-all” world. Shaunti has been a mom for 13 years, she and Jeff have been married for 18 years.
I completely understand your feelings regarding 8th grade graduation of your daughter. Mine is in 10th grade and I have heard from many a mom that 8th grade graduation is more significant than high school graduation. Here’s to her flying high!