My youngest graduated from high school over the weekend (that’s her, waving). I don’t think I was prepared for the intensity of watching it unfold throughout the evening. After struggling for 12 years — less the four years we homeschooled her, which felt like an oasis of peace and progress — with the limitations of public schools in dealing with special needs kids, especially kids who are high-functioning in some areas, much lower in others, I wasn’t sure we’d ever get here. But through a serendipitous move she found a great home at Wooster for her last year of high school, and made up for some lost time, and then there she was, capped and gowned and so full of confidence and grace and excitement. And there I was, trying to say, “wait.” This kind of stuff never feels fast when you’re going through it, in fact, often it was frustratingly, no, m a d d e n i n g l y slow and sluggish. But just when you’ve settled in and surrendered to that rhythm, steeled your sense of patience, very suddenly it’s over, and you’re scrambling to adjust. Anyway. With all the festivities of that and the race done and all our company gone home and things sinking back into a normal pace, I think the summer of book-finishing can get underway.

My youngest graduated from high school over the weekend (that’s her, waving). I don’t think I was prepared for the intensity of watching it unfold throughout the evening. After struggling for 12 years — less the four years we homeschooled her, which felt like an oasis of peace and progress — with the limitations of public schools in dealing with special needs kids, especially kids who are high-functioning in some areas, much lower in others, I wasn’t sure we’d ever get here. But through a serendipitous move she found a great home at Wooster for her last year of high school, and made up for some lost time, and then there she was, capped and gowned and so full of confidence and grace and excitement. And there I was, trying to say, “wait.”

This kind of stuff never feels fast when you’re going through it, in fact, often it was frustratingly, no, m a d d e n i n g l y slow and sluggish. But just when you’ve settled in and surrendered to that rhythm, steeled your sense of patience, very suddenly it’s over, and you’re scrambling to adjust.

Anyway. With all the festivities of that and the race done and all our company gone home and things sinking back into a normal pace, I think the summer of book-finishing can get underway.

Happiness is lenticular clouds.

odditiesoflife:

Rare Lenticular Clouds

The stunning meteorological phenomena of lenticular clouds (Altocumulus lenticularis) is a rare spectacle. Looking more like UFO’s than clouds, they are created by three conditions: warm and moist air, winds with constant height and something big, like a tall mountain. When a current of air hits an obstacle in its way, it begins to travel upwards and starts to condense forming a lens-shaped cloud with multiple layers.

Both absolutely fascinating and absolutely stunning. Complement with The Cloud Collector’s Handbook.

(via explore-blog)