pomp and circumstance

I love this picture for so many reasons. Love the sign that our dear friends made for the occasion. Love the care her sisters took getting the sign up to begin with. Her dad in the background watching his baby girl take center stage. And then of course her, poised and eager to move on to the next stage of life.

We were so lucky to sit right across the aisle from her. I snapped this right after she received her diploma. Radiant.

The boyfriend, the grandparents, her mama, her newest baby cousin, her Tias, and baby brother Samuel, lover of all things fuzzy, who insisted on getting her a stuffed animal she could take away to college. "In case she gets homesick" he said.

Because it was such a small graduating class, they had everyone set up tables with special tokens and mementos to honor the graduates. Hence, there sat Osi, a stuffed bear I made when I carried that girl inside of me as I anxiously awaited her arrival. She loved that bear 'til the beads and stuffing left trials everywhere she went. I think I restitched it a dozen times. It traveled from Provo to Ohio, got lost and found in little bakeries and museums across Chicago. It made it's way to hot, humid Texas and finally back to a shelf by her bed in Utah. Yes, little Osi has been through a lot over the last 18 years but is no worse for wear for all it's adventures.

We thought we'd give her a bike to get around the BYU campus similar to what my parents gave me my first year at the same place all those years ago. It has the cutest red birds and music notes painted on it with the word Melody painted on the side. How apropos for my little singing bird so ready to take flight.