Extreme Empty Nest-iness

Oh dear.....it's creeping in again.

College Graduation evening tomorrow night and I'm awash with emotion.....joy, pride, fear, love, nervousness, relief...did I mention fear?

With two sons we have all of the 'firsts' with Possum, and then all of the 'my baby' with Small Man.....

I am so proud of my Possum for all that he has accomplished, against a few more odds than most.
At the age of 3 he could count backwards from 100.
At the age of 4 he taught himself to read - so as to work the computer.
A loud and sometimes outspoken child, we would never lose him in a crowd!
He's not like that any more!!!

Everyone could always rely on Possum to say what everyone else was thinking.
Now we have to drag things out of him!!
From this he developed such a supportive group of friends, several of them attended his 18th birthday.

Never one to be that 'into' art - one of his primary school teachers described a drawing he did as having a ' Savant like' perspective.

He learnt to play the violin a little during primary school, then later found a passion for the guitar.

In grade 5 his NAPLAN test result placed him in the top 5% in Tasmania.

He won several awards in the same year - first place was awarded for a statewide Science talent search and English competition - he had written a poem that won :)

At the age of 8 he was diagnosed with severe ADHD.
The medication roundabout was difficult and distressing for a time until we got it 'right'.

By the time he reached puberty and High School he was a lot more settled, and his eye colour turned from blue to green at the same time.......an unusual occurrence at that age :)

He took an interest in hockey in High School - after trying tennis during earlier years, swimming, milo cricket etc etc. Where he may not have had natural talent he persevered, and persevered.
He was part of the team that made it to the grand final for hockey in grade 10 - the result was a draw!

He was able to achieve all level 5 'A's' in pre-tertiary Maths in grade 10 - so wasn't required to take maths classes in college (unless he wanted to).

By the time he was 13 he was keen to work, so I set him to work for my company delivering catalogues.
He kept going with this for approximately 18 months.
He then started at Hungry Jacks in September 2007.
He has worked weeknights and weekends without much more than a weeks break once or twice for the last two years, an average of 20 hours per week on top of high school/college/work experience.....

To say I am proud of him would be an understatement.

Regardless of what his actual 'grades' are at the end of this year - in my mind he is a success.

He had more reason that most to give up or not 'be bothered', and there have been times when keeping him organised have taken their toll, and it has been very stressful, but I would do it all over again.

Just another step towards empty nest-iness for me,

*sigh*

G
xxx