today is a portal

Solstice sneaked up on us through generally mild but gloomy weather. By now it should be fairly consistently hot and summerish, but we've had grey skies and rainshowers, with just the odd bright day to raise our hopes.

On this longest day it will be grey and damp again, but summer will be happening nevertheless.

In our family we will mark several rites of passage:

Alex will prepare for his last exam of grade 11, which he will write tomorrow. He plans to go straight from school to the roller coaster at Playland. This has been a hard-working year for him. Most notable he has made it through "Math Principles 11" with the help of the Wonderful Ms. Thorstensen, his math tutor, who he has met with twice every week since January. We are grateful for her help and for Alex's persistence in making it through the hard learning that is required. Next year his courses will be a fair bit easier, with more room for the film electives that are his passion. He plans to go to a film program at college after graduation.

Alex is also in the final stages of preparing for his driver's license road test, just 3 weeks away, and getting ready to actually go to work at his first job, once the sun shines and business picks up at the fish and chips shop at the park.

Andy and I will prepare to say goodbye to our neighbourhood school this Friday. Open since 1975, and the place where our kids learned and grew from Kindergarten to Grade 5, it will be permanently closed at the end of the month, due to declining enrolment in the district. There's a big celebration on Friday evening, open to the whole community. I couldn't stand to go there for the last day of school next week, but I'm hoping this will be a time to give a last look down those hallways where our kids grew up, and thank some of the people one more time for the difference they made in our lives. There will also be a barbeque, a climbing wall, pony rides and a bouncy castle.

And for Fiona, it's a huge weekend. Today is her last awards ceremony at Middle School. She's singing O Canada. Then this evening she'll have her school-leaving ceremony and a dance. We'll be at the school for both. She's had a wonderful time at the middle school and is looking forward to Grade 9 in the Fall.

Then Saturday it's recital time. We'll see the kids from Lindbjerg Academy demonstrate all they've learned in their singing and dancing lessons. Grandma and Grandpa are coming to that one.

At the end of all that, even if it's still darkish outside, we'll know for sure that it's summer in our hearts. Part happy, part sad. We'll move through this doorway away from things that we love and have depended on. On the other side: new adventures.

question: it's not a coincidence, is it?

mompoet - I do not believe in coincidence