The End of Something?

Or the beginning of the next adventure? Half empty or half full?

This lady graduated from high school today. She is half Scottish and half Japanese just like my little monkey. She looked stunning in her family heirloom kimono at the ceremony. (This may not be the shot she wishes I had used for Blip!)

Her mother is one of the best people I know. She has fought tooth and nail to make sure that this girl had the best education available to her in this part of the world, an education which hopefully has prepared her to deal with both of her "halves", or should I say, to deal with how other people will react to her 2 halves. This fight to make our school the best it can be, has also benefited countless other families as well, in ways that most of them do not realise, because this lady never advertises the degree of her help, she does things not for personal recognition, but quite simply because they need to be done. And at heart, all for this girl. She has my love and deepest respect. Both don't always come together.

Well, they reached the graduation goal post, so congratulations and well done to the both of them.

This girl has had to deal with a lot more than "just" the usual pressures of Grade 12 on the IB programme, but has done it with a dignity and a fabulous Scottish black sense of humour (thank goodness Scotland won out in the gene battle for humour!) that makes me proud to know her.

The loss of this particular family in the HIS community will be bigger than most people will ever know, and will cause me to shed many tears, but if my little half Scottish, half Japanese girl grows up to be anything like her "big sister" here, that will do me! And if I can be even a little bit like her mother, even better.

Here's to new beginnings and many many half full glasses in the future!