Graduation

So Son 1 has graduated from high school.  The ceremony was moving and there were no disasters.  He left for the evening afterwards for a post-graduation party, more or less telling us that it was his intention to come home with a hangover.  I told him to make sure that whoever drove him home was OK to do so, or else to call for a ride.  But I wasn't going to act shocked.  Hell, if I'd had any friends who had invited me to such a party after I graduated, I would have liked to go to it too ... although in truth I was probably too shy and priggish at that age to have let myself enjoy it.

As it turned out, I remember distinctly that -- back when it was my turn -- I went home with my parents and we had a quiet dinner with my grandparents.  After they left my father had too much to drink (though he never drank in front of his folks), and his last words to me before he crashed into bed were, "Always be strong."  He was struggling with great emotion as he said it, and I just found the whole scene very depressing.  My grandfather died six months later, so that's probably what had my father upset.  But did any of this have anything to do with my graduating from high school?  Of course not.  On the other hand, I probably would have been uncomfortable if I had been the center of attention too, so basically there's no helping me.  Enough reminiscence.

When we saw Son 1 on Sunday morning he was tired but had no hangover.  He also said the party hadn't turned out to be all that fun after all, because he had ended up taking care of guys who were far more wasted than he was.  At one point the police showed up, telling them to quiet down and move inside because it was late.  At another point, Son 1 helped a friend stagger away from the swimming pool, because he was worried that if the friend fell in he might not know enough to stop breathing ... and drown.  Still later, Son 1 got to unclog a sink that had become stopped up with vomit.  He got a couple hours of sleep in dribs and drabs, but nothing like a full night's worth.  So he was exhausted and more or less glad it was all over.  On the other hand, now he has a high school diploma from a fine prep school.  So overall it's good.

What more is there to tell?  My parents, Wife and I, and Brother and his girlfriend all went out to dinner.  I left early (well, 9:30 but the others were still talking and Wife hadn't stopped talking long enough even to eat much yet) because I couldn't stay awake: I tossed Wife the keys to the van we'd driven there together and walked the dozen blocks to my hotel.  The morning before graduation I had moved Son 1 out of his dorm room; so Sunday we left a couple big heavy items in my parents' garage and then the three of us drove three hours to Wife's condo.  Son 2 was waiting there for us.  (Durmstrang is a damned sight closer to Wife's place than it is to Hogwarts, so he had missed his brother's graduation.)  We unloaded the stuff out of Wife's van, loaded the necessities for both boys into my car (which I had left there a couple days before), and got to my apartment in time to make dinner.  Everyone was tired by nightfall and turned in early.

It was a busy weekend with a lot of driving, but a good one.  And now it's summer.