GRADUATION!
It has been a while...I guess it is time that I updated our blog.
Well...it's done. It's over. Madeline has graduated high school. What a ride these last three years have been. While I am happy that she is done and the next chapter has started, I sure am going to miss our times that we spent together in NYC. I have spent the three years getting to go visit her and explore NYC and all it has to offer. She has spent the last three years surrounded by good friends, awesome teachers, amazing dorm parents, and just an amazing little community. She has had all the comforts of small little town in Westchester with the big city just a quick train ride away.
We all flew to New York for graduation and then one final Watkins Family NYC blow out for a while. Janie, John and I went up a few days early as I knew it was going to take more than a few hours to pack up her dorm room and send it home. I was hoping that she might have it finished, but I was also aware of how stressful the last month of school was for her so I wasn't surprised with what we saw when we got there. Alison and Susan came up a few days later. After banquets and packing and finally graduation, we moved to into the city. We saw several shows (Wicked, Fish in the Dark, Drunk Shakespeare, The Book of Mormon), ate at our favorite place (5 Napkin Burger), shopped, ate some more, explored the last few places we hadn't been yet (Chelsea Markets, Brooklyn, Highline), and just enjoying our last family vacation in New York before everyone is grown and living their own lives.
Graduation and NYC Pictures
Now that we are back in College Station I was assuming that since we have spent the last few summers doing workshops and camps and traveling we would have this quiet slow summer....I was wrong. Apparently all the things that a teenager does that Madeline has not gotten to do is what we are doing this summer. She is doing dance classes, taking piano lessons, learning to drive, and she got her first job. So that is what we are doing this summer. John went home last weekend and we miss him so much already.
Janie is still in College Station. For the first time since she started college she is not taking summer classes. She is helping me with my chauffeur duties, working out, and getting a job. She has also been cleaning out our house and getting it less cluttered...thank God for her!
Alison moved to Sugarland in January to teach at Wharton Junior High. While she liked Sugarland, it was a really tough job. Wharton is one of the worst school districts to work in and she had little help. She is teaching summer school in Wharton and getting ready to move to Pearland. She starts her job at Sweeny Junior High where she will be teaching English and coaching volleyball and basketball. We are so excited that she has a career in something she is good at and seems to enjoy. I miss her being here every day like the last few summers, but she does come visit most weekends.
I will be in the U.S. until Madeline goes to college. She starts Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, in the fall. It is a small school of about 4,000 students in the heart of the city. Their saying is "the city is your campus." While it's not New York, it is still a decent sized city compared to College Station. She will be living on campus for the first year and she will be going through their Conservatory program for performing arts/musical theatre/writing. LOL. She wants to do it all so she is having a hard time trying to narrow it down. She will choose her second major after this semester.
John and I will be in Saudi for the foreseeable future. We enjoy our little life there even though it is just the two of us...we miss the girls desperately, but we have a routine that works for us. John likes his job and we have a great group of friends.
