The End of Lucy’s Junior Year – Hallelujah!

As I mentioned before, the end of this school year couldn’t come fast enough for Lucy or for her mother. Ha! Yow, that was a LOT of work to end on. We were honestly counting down the very minutes.

So it was fun to get this text from Lu on that last day after she finished her last final:

(Lucy’s texts are always my favorites.)

I went and picked her up and we were pretty happy!

But wait, let’s back up for just a second…

The lead-up to the last day

All the homework and late nights. Dave did a special lesson for FHE on Sunday about a hard heart (a rock) vs. a soft heart (sponge) to let help in sometimes. And God too. We all needed that lesson.

We had a graduation dinner for a cousin Lucy adores.

And Lucy spent hours, amidst her piles of rigorous studying for finals and finishing homework, writing out the nicest cards for her adored teachers at school AND all her senior friends who have been so good to her.

Not the kind of notes that are just “hey, congratulations,” but true, heartfelt notes filled with examples of how good they have been to her, and her signature block letters colored carefully on the front of each “packet” of papers. Made with love under her lighted desktop magnifier.

She also baked her signature oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for all of them. Gosh I love this girl’s heart.

On that last school night Dave had to be out of town at a wedding of our dear friend’s daughter, so it was me and Lucy. I made dinner all spiffy to end on…if you can call “spiffy” putting our little “school year motto” sign on the table and whipping up some leftovers. Ha! Well, I did make some pretty awesome roasted sweet potato fries…

Did she even remember that “positive” was our motto for the school year? Hmmmm. We could have used that to our advantage a little more than we did…

Anyway, after our spiffy dinner she got this sweet math tutor to come over to help her get ready for her last final. These two sat there at the counter for TWO HOURS trying to figure out her huge stack of packets, and I loved working quietly close-by, in awe of the concepts they were discussing and how Lucy GETS it. Well, most of it. She is a wonder.

Still smiling after 11:00…love this awesome tutor who has helped her out so much over the last couple years.

The very last day

After all that, Lucy felt READY for that last day!

She got to attend her friend’s traditional last-day-of-school-meet-up donut breakfast:

And then came the test she did well on (HOORAY!), then the text from above (DONE WITH JUNIOR YEAR), of course Firehouse subs (her fav,) and a sweet treat dropped off by a friend.

The last day of school for this junior is really different from my other juniors in the past. She didn’t want to go to the one party she knew about (not a fan of slip-n-slides), so she took it upon herself to get to graduation to support some of the people she loves so much. She got a ride with her “second family” (not something you want to go with your mom to I guess) and braved the crowd to celebrate these kids.

So grateful for these good seniors (and more who’s moms haven’t sent me pictures yet), who have helped her feel so secure and loved in many ways this year.

I always wonder if people can know, I mean REALLY know, how much even little acts of kindness, a “HI!” in the hallway or a “I like your shirt” can have an impact on a girl who is alone and may seem unapproachable with her white cane trying to maneuver her days.

The little things are the big things.

Goodbye Junior Year!