Mitch

Mitch is one of my younger sisters. Her given (first) name is Christina, but she gained the nickname Mitch following my dear mother mispronouncing her middle name, Michelle, as Mitchell. Mitch just graduated from 8th grade. She attended a rural school called Central Howell that spans Kindergarten to 8th grade. I also attended and graduated from Central Howell, so returning for graduations always is a bittersweet reminiscence. Remembering reading during recess instead of playing all the time, kicking soccer balls onto the top of the gym, kicking soccer balls into the corn fields that lined the soccer field just so I could go run through the corn. But also spending 9 years of my strange childhood in this place and not understanding the gravity of all those years until the moment I return to visit. Kind of a rush of memories that somehow seems unfair. The point here is that Mitch graduated, looked downright smashing, and now gets to wade through four years of lovely high school.