And More Graduations!

Two caps, two gowns, two different schools... all in one week.

I’m not the first parent to get a child through graduation, but this time it truly felt like an accomplishment for my entire village. This isn't the first time I’ve had two graduations in one week—having twins and sending them to different schools makes that inevitable—but this week was different.

Our fourth son, Breaker, took an extra semester, so it took him four and a half years to wrap up his diploma. He was part of the COVID years at one of the top music schools in the country, NYU Clive Davis. I remember many times Breaker said he should just stop for a bit, especially trying to take music classes online during the height of the pandemic. It wasn’t easy, but Robert and I were like, "Breaker, you can’t even travel. What would you do?" At last, with grit, courage, and a few extra caring friends and family, Breaker did get it done.

It’s funny—the final semester he also worked at a local restaurant, performing at various venues around the city, and in some ways, did more in those few months than during the long, drawn-out year online. He took a class from a new professor that semester, who ended up becoming his favorite. Good things do turn out when the plan changes. As you can see in some of the photos, Breaker’s NYU graduation was a highlight for both Robert and me.

Now back to the twins. My second set are fraternal twin boys, born on April 19th, so those who know astrology will recognize they are Aries. Five and Holleder have been going full speed since the day they were born. Also being pandemic students, Robert and I had six students at that time, from university down to elementary school, but I’ll save that for another newsletter. My two sets of twins are completely opposite, they just share a birthday, period.

Five got his diploma online this year, which wasn't an easy task, but we’re proud of him. Holleder, on the other hand, has always made the honor roll, but with senioritis at an entirely different level just weeks before graduation, it wasn’t looking good for him to walk at the ceremony, and maybe not even graduate. Those last few weeks literally took everyone to keep him on track. We called on our village once again. He had already been accepted into Tulane and maybe he had just had enough, but oh, how Holleder really scared us. I asked myself if this could be one of his pranks. My boys’ pranks can cause a teenager to get gray hairs, but no, this wasn’t a prank.

Do I ask his siblings who live in other states to fly in for this when we weren't sure? Of course I did—it’s their brother. I thought I might need them all there in case I try to kill him too. Well, as you can see from the photos, Holleder did graduate, and now I can say I have six kids who have all finished high school. Funny side note: all seven of my kids will have graduated from seven different high schools. This wasn’t planned, but when you zig and zag to educate a large family with different types of learners in very expensive cities, you must be resourceful. I can’t remember which child pointed this out on Holleder’s graduation day, but we laughed and said fingers crossed we still got the youngest, Major, to pull through, and I’ve learned never to assume anything in life.