Siblings have a special bond–one that involves lots of teasing. Me and my sister’s relationship is based entirely on teasing, I’m sure. Now that Christopher is old enough, he and I sort of gang up on her. But apparently, I’ve taught him too well…

My little brother pulled a trick on me today that I’ve been pulling on my sister for years. She finally lost some of her gullibility and it doesn’t work anymore, but it looks like my level of gullibility has increased. Mom was telling us today that we need to let the dogs out. She let one out, and when he was ready to come in, Christopher yelled to me, “Jana, mom said let the dog in!” I waited a minute (pushing my luck, as daughters like to do), and waited until Christopher said, “Fine I’ll do it!” I told him not to, that I would do it, so I went downstairs and let the dog in. When I came back upstairs, Mom said, “You know, I told him to do that.” I was dumbstruck. This little 11 year old just tricked me into doing something he was supposed to do! I couldn’t believe it. I never get tricked by my younger siblings. I do the tricking.  I’m the oldest; I’m supposed to know all the tricks! I guess being at college all year without them has made me a little rusty.

So Amber is officially graduated! The entire family is very proud of her.

As luck would have it, she sat on one side of the stadium while we were in the fourth row of the other side of the stadium. My mom spent the entire graduation standing on her side of the stadium just so she could get pictures of Amber walking.

Poor Christopher was so bored (well, to tell the truth, so was I, but I have more practice at acting interested. I wonder how differently I’ll look at a graduation when it’s my kids graduating…). He doodled throughout most of the ceremony to keep himself occupied.

He even tried to lay down and take a nap. And apparently he wasn’t the only one. Some of the graduates were napping in their seats, too, according to Amber. As exciting as actually, finally, graduating from high school is, the ceremony is always unbelievably boring. I remember at my graduation, I was fidgeting constantly. And I was in the front row, right behind the speakers. When the tape of graduation was played on local tv, everyone could see me moving my fingers constantly!

But anyway, I found one of the speakers to be very interesting. The mayor of Worcester spoke, and she compared the graduates to turtles: awkward and slow. No, I’m just kidding. She said that, like turtles, the graduates need to learn to stick their heads out to meet the challenges in life. They can’t hide in their shells. Another speaker accidentally called the ceremony a “commendment” rather than “commencement.” I caught the mistake, but thought it was appropriate nonetheless. The graduates deserve to be commended for making it out of high school. I was surprised to hear no one say “We did it!” or “You did it!” I was glad, though. I think it’s an overused and cliched phrase when it comes to graduations.

Congratulations to all of the graduates of 2008 and good luck in the future!

My little sister is graduating from high school tonight! My dad and stepmother flew here from England for the graduation, and my Mamaw and Aunt are here from Tennessee. Unfortunately, since her graduating class is so big, she only received six tickets. Three people will be sitting out. We tried to get more tickets, but those little suckers are scarce! We went to the school to beg for more, and I even asked a guy I work with at Kumon if he knew anyone with extras. He didn’t; apparently everyone is having the same problem as us. My mom, brother, dad, stepmom, Mamaw, and I will be watching her graduate while my grandparents and aunt wait at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, we’ll probably all go out to dinner. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and even post a few. I’m still having a hard time believing that my little sister, the 5 feet tall brat, is actually graduating when she still gets kid’s menus at restaurants!

Starting in the fall, Amber will be going to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. We used to live in Bossier and she’s knows a lot of people who are going there for school. She can’t wait to be near her old friends again. She has orientation in July and school starts in August. She’s just planning on staying with a friend from July until school starts so that she doesn’t have to go back and forth.

If you’d like to know what we’re doing to prepare her for college or if you have any suggestions for us, please feel free to e-mail me: jfuson@email.lynn.edu. I’d love to hear from you!