So much has already happened and there is so much more to come, but let me start from the beginning. 

A mere 6 days after our ultra on May 4th, our youngest daughter, Reese, graduated from Colorado State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing with a minor in Merchandising. We were so proud to watch her walk across that stage and receive her diploma.  As most kids who began college in the midst of COVID, it wasn’t easy.  She wanted to quit more than a few times, she wanted to transfer universities, she wanted things to be the way they were supposed to be.  Instead, she persevered and made the most of it.  She studied hard, got a job, made friends, did a semester abroad, made more friends, began dating and found the life she wanted.  Honestly, these kids deserve to rule the world.  They had the world taken from them and then they went out and took it back.  Amazing to see that kind of tenacity. 

Graduating our youngest feels like a huge accomplishment, but it also brings up some sadness. I mean, how have we already arrived at this point?

So, what are her plans?  Her plans are not set in stone.  There is some flux, but while it gets sorted she is currently continuing to work at the bridal salon in Fort Collins that she has worked at since March of 2021. It’s hard to say goodbye to those college friends, jobs and towns that we have loved and have taught us so much.

When your kids are little and you have your head down just down doing the day to day crazy of raising a family, it’s hard to conceive of a day where that isn’t your life.  You know it happens, but it just feels so far away. 

Then one day, you wake up and your baby is up on that stage and she is all grown up and you fight back tears as you contemplate what will happen next. You sit there and you wonder where she will land and what it will look like and then you realize you are sitting amongst thousands of people including your family and you don’t have time to go there right now. So, I will save all of that for another day and another blog.

Anyway, back to the graduation weekend. What an absolutely amazing time we had. After the ceremony we had a beautiful dinner filled with great conversation, amazing food, stories, laughter and so much love. After dinner, the grandparents went back to the hotel while everyone 55 and under went out on the town. Getting to go out in a college town with your kids is one of those things every parent should do.  There is nothing like bar hopping with your college student to make you feel young and very old at the same time. 

Highly recommend it.

Sidenote, when you do choose to go out, just make sure your luggage is in your room so your parents (the grandparents in this scenario) don’t have to call you at midnight to remind you of this fact and then wait up until 1:30am for you to finally make it back to the hotel room.  There is nothing quite like being 54 years old and having to knock on your parents’ hotel room door at 1:30am to ask for your bags and beg for their forgiveness.  It takes you right back to missing curfew in high school.

Very early the next morning we drove back to Colorado Springs to prepare for a big grad party. So many family members flew in for the weekend and not only helped us celebrate, but helped us with everything! We cannot thank Angela, Lisa, Alex, Jason, Abbey, and Becca enough for all of their hard work preparing for the party while we were in Fort Collins celebrating and acting like we had nothing pressing happening.

It felt so great to be able to really celebrate Reese the way she deserved after not getting a big party in 2020. We were able to see so many old friends and we were even able to meet some new ones. 

The weekend also coincided with Mother’s Day and not only was I thrilled to have all of my girls in one place, but then to have both of our moms here as well was so special. The whole weekend was an absolute gift and not one we will soon forget. 

The weekend was packed with friends, family and so many feelings.  As my dear friend always says, “how lucky are we!”