Another Day of Emotions

My lovely 14-year-old graduated from 8th grade today in a ceremony in Golden Gate Park. Taller than all of her friends and most of her teachers, she's a big girl now -- strong, smart, beautiful and mature beyond her years.

 Here she is in a lineup with six of her friends afterward. I love their smiles and the smiles of all 14-year-olds. I remember when I was 14, vividly, but that is another story, one over a half-century old.

The teacher who gave her tribute talked about having wanted to get to know this mysterious girl for years, only to find out when she finally reached her grade, she wouldn't talk to her -- at first.  And then how gratifying it was, finally, when Julia opened up to her.

I think we all feel that way about Julia. She is a very special person to get to know, but it always has to be on her terms, not yours.

Dylan couldn't make the ceremony (taking that damned SAT) but Aidan was there with his little buddy and admirer Ozzie, another budding red-haired athlete in this part of the universe.

Tonight we had a party celebrating Aidan and Julia's graduations. Old friends, good friends. People who really care about my kids, and always have. They take me aside and tell me my kids are special. Do you know what is really special?

People who care enough to notice, to connect, and show up when it matters. People who always ask what is going on with you even as you are asking what is going on with them. People who reconnect even after a long silence. People who sense when you need a hug. People who let you in when you sense they need a hug. People who cry behind their sunglasses when their kids graduate.

People who see one another for what we all are -- deeply flawed individuals, weak at times, lonely at times, needy at times, and every now and again very much on top of our world.

To Julia and Aidan, my current crop of graduates, Congratulations!

To Dylan, your turn is coming, buddy -- next year.

P.S. We just figured out tonight that Dylan is now 6'2", the tallest of all the Weirs. A year from now we will celebrate this most cerebral of all Weirs when he graduates from Lowell High School. He already has planned out his college and graduate track -- majoring in psychology and history, studying criminology at U-C, Irvine, and working for the FBI.

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