Yearbooks and end of Years

Today was the last day of school.

Hallie finished 9th grade.

Lovely finished 7th grade.

LB finished 4th grade.

BB still wears pull ups.

And I finished my continuing education for my insurance license for TWO YEARS!  woohoo.

So, it was a big day.

Hallie got her yearbook last week.  After a cursory look through it, she promptly dumped it in her room and hasn't picked it back up.  She has gotten a yearbook every year, since she was in kindergarten.  We have a stack of books in her room, marking the passage of years of friends, and herself.   Occasionally I will move them to clean around the pile, but for the most part, they've been looked at, maybe 3 times each.

Here's the difference in kids that have grown up with everything, and kids that have had nothing.....

Lovely got her yearbook on Tuesday.  She slept with it Tuesday night, carried it all day Wednesday, took it to Hal's volleyball practice on Wed evening and showed everyone there, and carried it to school yesterday, and was still carrying it, when I picked her up this evening.

That yearbook is HUGE to her.

LB's school sent an email out earlier in the week, saying they had 25 yearbooks left and they would have a lottery for any yearbooks that hadn't been purchased.  Me, being the swift of brain, couldn't remember if I had bought LB a yearbook or not, so I just made the offhand comment, "If I didn't get you a yearbook, let me know and we will enter the lottery."

He took that to heart.  He REALLY thought I had forgotten to get him a yearbook.  I was 99.9% certain I had bought him one, but there was that nagging .1% that still doesn't have faith in a few of those areas.

So today, when I picked him up, the VERY first thing out of his mouth was,  "I have been praying that I could get a yearbook, and LOLLY, I GOT ONE!"

I GOT A YEARBOOK. I've never been so happy I pre-bought anything in my life.   And we poured over every page, like it was liquid gold.

And to a kid that has NEVER gotten a yearbook......that is a big deal.

Last year, I had only had them a couple of months so we missed out on the whole yearbook thing.  I had no idea how hard it was for them to miss getting yearbooks, when that all happened last year.  BUT THIS YEAR....HOLD the PHONE.

I am humbled daily by how for granted I take my life.  These kids have brought "REAL" back in to my world.  They are so thankful for everything they have.

I heard LB telling BB the other day, "YOU HAVE THREE pair of Shoes!"  like he was the luckiest kid in the world.   with THREE pair of shoes, and I know as I typing this he needs another pair pronto.

To these kids, who have had nothing their whole lives....three pair of shoes is a big deal.  BB has so many toys to choose from, he can't even decide on one.  So he puts the top of the toybox on the floor upside down, puts a pillow on it, and sits in it and pretends it's a boat.  Who needs legos?  Give that kid a pillow and a toy box lid.

Our lucky, entitled, spoiled, and for the most part ungrateful children we are raising (and trust me, that 15 year old  that I gave birth to, that lives with me, has almost KILLED me this week with her ungratefulness), have NO IDEA what it is like to go without.   They have no idea how to be grateful for ANYTHING because they have been handed everything on a silver platter.

I created that monster, but what my "take-out" kids have taught me, is how to be grateful in ALL things.  I'm thankful now for every little thing.

I even pulled out my old yearbooks and took a stroll down memory lane.....All because I'm still learning about life, from my 3 bonuses.


And life is about belonging, to someone that loves you, and being cool enough to be in a yearbook.