092 - A Weekend of Emotions

This episode centers on McKenna's college graduation weekend in Bowling Green, and I'll be honest, I went into recording it already emotional. I had just watched a reaction video to Taylor Swift's "Ronan" and then written a social media post about the weekend, and cried through both. So I was doing my best to hold it together.

The weekend opened with a social work pinning ceremony Friday morning, and I genuinely had no idea what to expect beyond McKenna receiving her pin. What I didn't know was that she had been nominated for awards. She won the BSW Research Award for research she had presented at a conference in New Orleans and again in Frankfort, Kentucky. I didn't know about any of that until they called her name. Then she won Outstanding BSW Student as well. I turned to Meagan and asked if she knew. She didn't. She didn't even know what McKenna went to New Orleans for. That told me everything about how quietly McKenna carries her own accomplishments. She also graduated summa cum laude and walked the stage wearing every cord and medal she had earned. She had her bling, just like she asked for when she graduated high school. Every piece of it was deserved.

The rest of the weekend was full in the best way. Lunch at a tiny Italian place in downtown Bowling Green, ice cream at Meltdown after the evening graduation where I had the Honeysuckle Divine and I am still thinking about it, brunch at Double Dogs on Saturday with Leo, and a home concert that same night featuring a folk-country trio called The Woods who I am convinced are on their way to something big. Mother's Day itself I kept intentionally slow, sourdough in the morning, Outlander with Cliff, and dinner out with Cliff, Matthew, and Koki, a Japanese exchange student from NKU who is staying with us this week before flying home.

But underneath all of it was something I was trying not to cry through. McKenna is moving states away for law school in August, and this feels different from college. I found a post by Rhiannon Turner about the empty nest transition that gave language to what I was sitting with. The moment that got me most was walking back to the car after the evening graduation and watching all three of my kids ahead of us on the sidewalk, laughing and talking, 26, 24, and 21, still genuinely choosing each other. That is still my favorite sound in the world. I earned that. And I felt it this weekend.