Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Graduate

Has it really been over four months since my last blog? Holy cow! I'll have to recap our life...backwards since I need time to remember everything that's happened.



Keaton. Has. Graduated. With. Honors.
WHOO-HOO!!! It's hard to believe (not that he isn't smart). It's hard to believe we're old enough to have a son who is old enough to graduate from high school. We're so very, very proud of him! He won numerous awards and scholarships that will help with college costs. He's going to go to Kalamazoo College (whew...not too far from us) and will major in mathematics and computer science. (I still think he's going to be a bookie. He says he and his friend plan to be computer hackers on a beach in Brazil since there's no extradition.) He will also be playing basketball for the Hornets. Their school colors are black and orange, so stock up on Halloween clothing and come and support the team! Look for the motor home parked in the dorm parking lot...that will be me. I'll just park there during the week and will allow him to have some freedom on weekends. I'm not THAT attached.

It was a whirlwind of activities around here for the past month. Keaton's open house party was fun...from what I remember. I, unfortunately, had a nasty bout of hives and was so drugged up on Benadryl and Zyrtec that I honestly don't know how I was even able to stand. (Oh sorry, since Matt makes generic drugs, I need to say Diphenhydramine and Ceterizine.) I scoff at people who whine about allergies...give me a sniffly nose and runny eyes any day. I leer at people who complain about having hives...and they complain about how uncomfortable they are with a smattering of a few itchy bumps. My hives are HUGE. My hives are legendary. My hives should be in movies. If you've ever seen the movie "Hitch"... the part where Will Smith's character has an allergic reaction to food and his entire face and ears swell up and he chugs Benadryl...I look about ten times worse than that. Okay, maybe I exaggerate...I look about NINE times worse than that. Seriously. I can handle hives covering my body...I just scratch until I'm covered in scabs. I can handle hives on my feet...it just looks like I'm walking on marbles. I just CANNOT handle hives on my face or in my throat. Trust me, kids will run screaming and even adults will shudder in horror if they see my deformed face or hear my scary, raspy voice. I was really worried about having a deformed face, having pictures taken with Keaton on this remarkable achievement in his life, and then having a record of my deformity scrapbooked for future generations to see. It really isn't pretty. My nemesis is grass, cat hair, and mold. (I'm allergic to everything and should be in a bubble, but those three things really set me off this time.) Of course, since I'm very allergic to cats, we have neighborhood cats who LOVE to visit my yard and outdoor furniture. My sisters and mom did a good job of playing guard dogs and making people take off their shoes if they came into the house. They're not fanatics about being clean...they honestly were trying to keep me alive. I'm not exaggerating with that one. I had a really bad episode the day before Keaton's graduation and was stupid and refused to go to the emergency room when I had hives in my throat because I HAD to finish Keaton's scrapbook pages for his open house. I gave myself 15 minutes for the Benadryl to kick in as my face swelled about twice in size, my eye swelled shut, and my lips were bigger than Angelina Jolie's. Luckily, the Benadryl did kick in. I know, I know, it was stupid and I should have gone to the E.R., but at the time, I honestly didn't want to waste those precious few hours in a hospital. I've been to allergy doctors and I'm not going back on shots. There is no cure for my hives...only ways to manage them. I have learned to avoid my triggers (or at least limit my exposure to my triggers until I find that bubble to live in - pink, of course!) and have bought stock in Benadryl. So, back to my guard dogs...my house was my one safe zone where I could sit and try to get back to normal. So, I floated (and I do mean floated because I honestly had more Benadryl in my system than is legal since I seem to have built up an immunity to it) around and fought through the fog and haze to try and focus on what was happening. So, if I appeared buzzed, dreamy, trance-like, or unconscious at any time around Keaton's graduation or open house, I apologize. It really was the drugs. Oh, and it also could have been the lack of sleep. Matt and I chaperoned the Seniors' Grad Bash (all-night party after commencement...we didn't get home until 7 a.m.) Then, I only took a couple of short naps for the next several days while we tried to set up for the open house. I'm a perfectionist (I know, it's hard to believe) and it's funny how that all changes at 4 a.m. I quickly learned that 3 hours of sleep is better than hanging a tarp in the garage to cover my cabinets. I wanted everything to be perfect...but realized that nobody will ever know what wasn't displayed. I was the only one who knew what wasn't done, made, or set out. Things went by so quickly. I honestly didn't have time to visit with everyone who came to Plainwell and I'm sorry for that. I tried to get the family together so they could visit, but I ended up working, chugging down the Benadryl so I didn't scare everyone and trying to stay conscious. We were all so happy to have so many friends and family come celebrate Keaton's accomplishment! It seems we blinked and the entire long weekend was over. The good news is that I'm slowly returning to normal...or as normal as I'll ever be. I'm hoping to be normal really, really soon because I really, really need a drink (or several). We have a lot to celebrate - Keaton's graduation from high school and...

...our 20th wedding anniversary! We didn't do anything for our anniversary. Stupid hives. I'm slowly reintroducing normal food back into my diet (I'm so sick of chicken and plain white rice!). I'm not quite ready to eat out in public yet because I really don't want to have a reaction and wind up on YouTube as "The Scary Hive Lady". We'll have to go out and celebrate another time once I'm normal. Matt's trying to talk me into going away to New Orleans, but that's not on my list of places to visit in the hot, steamy summer months. Maybe in the fall...before Keaton's basketball season.

                                               

                                               

                                     

                                     

                                                

                                     

                                               

                                  

Speaking of Keaton, he went to Florida for spring break without us. I guess he really is all grown up. He went with his girlfriend and her family. Matt and I worked on little projects around the house in preparation for the onslaught of visitors for the graduation celebration. Boy, did he ever need a celebration. After a disappointing basketball season, he was really down on himself. It was heartbreaking to watch our usually happy, smiling, joking son become sullen, quiet...and depressed. It was so difficult to watch him lose his self-confidence. It was so difficult to watch him lose his passion for basketball. Some coaches may think they can motivate players by getting them angry or lighting a fire under them. That doesn't work with Keaton. He was repeatedly told he wasn't a good player. He was told he'd never play ball in college. He was repeatedly told he wasn't a leader. We watched him help other players up from the floor during games. We watched him congratulate teammates on free-throws or baskets. We watched him cheer on his teammates while he was sitting on the bench, injured. We watched him work really hard in physical therapy to recover from an injury so he could get back on the court to help his team. We watched him talk with a younger teammate who was frustrated during a game and try and cheer him up. We watched him never, ever argue with a referee in a game - EVER. We watched him pass the ball unselfishly and not take unnecessary shots. We watched him tell his team to settle down after a bad call. We watched him try and pump up his team when they were frustrated. We watched him tell his team to be proud of being a Trojan. Unlike a lot of his team, he didn't spend weekends at parties, he never had a tardy or unexcused absence from school, he kept his grades at all As and never had a detention. Yet, he was repeatedly beaten into the ground and told he wasn't a leader. So, Keaton learned some valuable lessons...life isn't always easy; you'll always have critics; and you can always count on your parents for unconditional love and support. The sad news is that it took him a while to touch a basketball after the season ended. We hope he'll find his passion for the game again over the summer.



Keaton went to the prom with Elizabeth again. They had a great time and even joked about taking the motor home filled with friends to the prom. We even offered to drive them and have our neighbor drive kids in their motor home...and were promptly shot down. Oh well, we tried to be cool.





Back to the present time...we don't have any big trips planned for the summer, believe it or not. We are heading up to Muskegon this weekend for Matt's adventure race. (Bike-riding, canoeing, and orienteering.) I'll cheer him on in spirit while I sit on the beach and relax. We're heading down to Hocking Hills in Ohio for a long weekend later in the month where we're planning on going on a ghost tour. That should be awesome...as long as nothing touches me. That would totally freak me out. For those of you who don't know, I have a sister who used to talk to our grandmother who had passed away...only we didn't know who she was at the time. I was the lucky one to share a room with Laurie and her nightly chats. Next month we're celebrating the 4th of July in da U.P. where we'll be visiting the Pictured Rocks and surrounding areas. We've been talking about taking a long trip in the fall, but it's still just talk. We have 10 more states in the continental U.S. to visit...and those will be long trips down south and out west. Yeehaw!



We have a lot to look forward to in the next few months. I'm looking forward to shopping for college life and decorating Keaton's dorm room. Keaton's looking forward to going away so he doesn't have to make his bed anymore and eating in the college cafeteria. Matt is looking forward to the next chapter in our lives. Cyrus is looking forward to getting ALL our attention since Keaton will be heading out for bigger and better things. We're all looking forward to a fun summer before our baby leaves for college!!!!