I think I've mentioned this before, but school assemblies make me cry. All of them. No matter what. A really ugly laugh/cry hybrid that if I don't hold back, sounds like a distressed hyena.
This one was particularly hard though--they are so big. No longer are they the tiny little peanuts being silly on stage. Even the awkward, gangly children in ill-fitting clothes are fading. They are growing up, they are becoming real people, and they were just so lovely. I was overcome with emotion.
I was wondering if I was alone in these thoughts when Mr. Ashley turned to me and said, "You can tell who they will become. Like the little girl with the red hair?" and I laughed because I had noticed her too, so much in fact that I was ready to hunt down her parents to congratulate them on a job well done. There was nothing spectacular about her, you could just see the strong, confident woman she was about to grow into and she was particularly close to taking that step away from childhood. Many of them were like this, they were finally individuals instead of a group of goofy school kids.
The kids' new school has an amazing music program. At the first grade musical, they did a drum line and sang "We Will Rock You." They did it well, too. This one ended with a Cups/Some Days mash-up that I think was incredible--not just the concept but the performance too. I was so proud and impressed. Excuse the poor camera work, I had to concentrate so hard to hold in the laughing hyena cry.
I came home and watched it three times and happy/sad cried my heart out each time. Happy at their success and our success in raising them, and sad that so much raising has already happened so quickly.
The "You're gonna miss me when I'm gone," line makes my heart crumple, because it is so true.
