Tayler and Jeremy
Tayler Graduation day. Tayler went to a rehearsal that took quite a while. Debbie was up early and cleaned off the patio after the wind. My sister, Diana drove sister Gloria from Tucson over to Debbie’s in the morning and she spent the day with us. We got a lot of the food Debbie was making prepared ahead for tomorrow’s dinner, the fruit and vegetables washed and cut up, and some of the dips made. The hot dishes, barbecued chicken, ribs and pulled pork for sandwiches, some macaroni and cheese, and baked beans were catered. We chopped up ingredients for a huge pasta salad and refrigerated that. The large round tables and some library tables for the buffet were delivered. A margarita machine was delivered, and it served strawberry virgin and real margaritas. The neighbors loaned them their soft ice cream machine. Beverly went for her pre-surgery tests in the morning then came to have lunch with us - we had a crab and shrimp salad.
By late afternoon we had all changed clothes and drove together to a beautiful Baptist Church in Summerlin for the graduation. Tayler wore a pretty black and white print dress. She drove us over to the church in her car. (BTW after her Volkswagen bug burned up, they got her a new Pries, and is it ever nice. It's navy blue, has all the fancy dashboard just like you're flying a jet, and a screen with many displays including GPS. It gets about 60 mpg.)
We were first there and got enough seats saved for everyone in the family. The ceremony was about three hours long. Fortunately the seats were soft. Our family filled an entire long pew. Curtis and Debbie, me, Justin and Stephanie, Diana and Gloria, Beverly and Brent, their dad Mike and his wife Denell and their daughter Valerie (Bev and Deb's half sister), Curtis' sister Kathy and nephew Christopher.
There was nice pre-service music then the processional. As usual it is hard to see your graduate in the crowd. The set up was like none I have ever seen, with two huge screen TVs video-ing the speakers. Each graduate had a small biography given that they had written about themselves, and their accomplishments during which they were shown up on the screens. It is so weird that I can hardly remember what they said about Tayler, but I knew I was very proud of her. Toward the end they had a section in the ceremony where all the seniors were given two red roses, and they could come up in to the audience to give them to whoever they wanted to. Tayler gave her roses to her mom and me. I was very touched to receive a rose. So when you see those photos you can tell I'm a little emotional. Her brother Justin gave Tayler a big bouquet of beautiful flowers and also an orchid lei. That was very thoughtful of him. Diana and Gloria left at "half time" to go to dinner early then picked up my niece Sue at the airport 11 p.m. so they had a very long day.
After the graduation ceremony was over we had time for some pictures. all the seniors got on buses and were taken to the YMCA and locked in for an overnight party. She had to take her duffle bag in the day before and all the duffles were searched for any troublesome items. They had all kinds of fun things to do, dancing, games and prize drawings. Tayler won a Tiffany necklace, but there were also laptops and phones and all kinds of stuff given away. Curtis said the parents donated about $95,000 for the party. They didn't get out of the Y until 5 a.m. and Curtis had to go over then and pick Tayler up. She said she had a great time. Somewhere else in the city two kids got shot at a graduation party in a park - one of them was killed, so it made it even more special how they took care of "our" kids.
