A Proud Mom Moment
Today is one of those days that is a very proud moment for this mom. While most high school seniors will be finishing up their school year and graduating in June, my oldest daughter, Danielle, will officially be a high school graduate as of this afternoon. She’ll walk with her class in June in a formal graduation ceremory, but today is her very last day of high school. 
She worked hard to get all her high school credits, and now she gets to reap the benefits of that. She’s ready to start the next phase of her life . . . and I’m so NOT ready for that! 
I’m so very proud of her . . . and very emotional about this moment, too. 
The past seventeen years have passed so quickly! For those of you with little ones, cherish every minute. The years pass much too quickly!
Congratulations, Danielle! You’ve become such a beautiful, sweet, and caring young woman. You make me so proud and I love you very much! 
Janelle, hugs to you and the dh for raising such an amazing young woman, and you have every right to be proud. I LOVE hearing about moments like this - very inspiring this morning. Thank you for sharing.
Comment by Stacy ~ — January 17, 2008 @ 6:22 am
AWWWW …. She’s so beautiful! She looks like her mom. Congrats, Danielle and Janelle and Don! I can’t imagine dealing with that day but I will soon enough!
Comment by Carly — January 17, 2008 @ 7:30 am
My “baby” who is really my oldest but who I’m very, very close to will be 21 in a month! The scariest part, I was 21 when I had him!! Oh God, please don’t let him follow in my footsteps!
Comment by Jodie — January 17, 2008 @ 8:24 am
Good morning everyone…
Janelle congrats to both you and Danielle…it is always a proud moment when a child reaches this stage in life…
This is quite an accomplishment…now what is she going to do for the rest of the year…take some time off before heading off to college? On the brighter side, Janelle, you will get to see a lot more of her now, right?
Have a wonderful day everyone….
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Comment by Paula R. — January 17, 2008 @ 8:32 am
Janelle- Congratulations!! Yes, I know how hard it is to have them grow up. The nerve!!
Enjoy the moment.
Off to work.
Comment by ev — January 17, 2008 @ 8:32 am
Janelle, your daughter is just beautiful, like you. Congratulations to Danielle on her fabulous accomplishment and to you for doing a fabulous job in raising her. I can feel your pride.
Have a great day everyone,
Cher
Comment by Cher — January 17, 2008 @ 8:46 am
Comment by Yolanda — January 17, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Congratulations Danielle on your achievement.
Enjoy this time in your life.
Janelle, you did good raising a beautiful and very bright daughter.
Comment by Gigi — January 17, 2008 @ 9:27 am
Congrats Danielle. What a wonderful accomplishment graduating early.
Congrats Janelle on raising such a wonderful youing woman.
Comment by Patty L. — January 17, 2008 @ 9:29 am
Congrats Danielle on all your hard work!
Congrats to Janelle and Don on raising such a hard working, beautiful young woman!
to you Janelle. I don’t have any kids, but my 3 nieces are like my own and my oldest graduates next year.
Comment by Liza — January 17, 2008 @ 9:42 am
Congratulations, Danielle (and Janelle and Don, too).
Comment by katie — January 17, 2008 @ 9:49 am
Janelle that’s wonderful. You must be so proud. Congratulations Danielle! My daughter is in 8th grade and we just went to a course fair at one of the high schools she’s considering and when they said welcome Class of 2012 I almost lost it. So I know what you mean.
Comment by Michelle in NJ — January 17, 2008 @ 10:04 am
Congrats to Danielle! I’m sure she will do very well in life.
Comment by Caryn — January 17, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Danielle’s initial plan was to get a part-time job and start college early. But now with the upheaval with the move to Oregon, that has changed. It all depends on how quickly we make it up to Oregon as to what she’ll do.
In the meantime, I have PLENTY to keep her busy around the house and in helping me pack for the move.
Comment by Janelle — January 17, 2008 @ 11:15 am
Aww, Janelle, congratulations to you both! She’s lovely!
Comment by Rhonda Nelson — January 17, 2008 @ 11:20 am
Congratulations!! What an awesome accomplishment!
Comment by Tina Martinesi — January 17, 2008 @ 11:51 am
Congratulations Danielle! And congratulations to you Janelle for raising such a wonderful daughter!
Comment by Susan — January 17, 2008 @ 11:52 am
Congratulations Danielle, and Janelle. This is your moment as much as hers, especially since she’s your first to get to this part of the journey.
Comment by PatriciaW — January 17, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
Janelle, are you moving before the end of the school year?
Comment by katie — January 17, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Katie — It all depends on how fast our house sells. And it’s anyone’s guess how long that will take in this bad housing market.
Comment by Janelle — January 17, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
I will send you good thoughts on house selling quickly…
Comment by katie — January 17, 2008 @ 3:19 pm
Congratulations to you both. A lot of hard work went into this accomplishment.
Comment by debb — January 17, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
Congratulations to Danielle!
And to you too, Janelle! Best wishes!
Comment by Robin — January 17, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
Congratulations to Danielle for this achievement. Janelle you have every right to be a proud Mom………
Comment by Cryna — January 17, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
Danielle,
You are a winner and your Mom’s pretty great, too!
Comment by Carol R — January 17, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
Congrats to Danielle! You have a right to be proud Janelle! What a beautiful daughter you have.
I know what you’re going through right now because my son graduated last June and just completed his first semester of college. It’s a lot of hard work but definitely worth it in the end! Time really does fly by. It seems like only yesterday that I was sending him off to kindergarten.
Comment by Carolyn A. — January 17, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
Congratulations on the early graduation, Danielle! How exciting is this.
Janelle, I know it’s wonderful and sad both to see your girls growing up so fast. Trust me though, some of the very best times are yet to come.
Comment by Vicki — January 17, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
She is a lovely young woman, Janelle!
Comment by Estella — January 17, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
Oh wow. Congratulations to Danielle, and to you Janelle. Graduation is huge - and a big step towards growing up. (What an interesting time to be graduating - but its nice that she gets to do that before moving!)
Comment by JSL — January 17, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
Thanks everyone for the good wishes! We’re taking her out to dinner tonight, and it’s Don’s birthday, too, so there’s lots to celebrate!
Comment by Janelle — January 17, 2008 @ 6:11 pm
Congratulations Danielle!
Comment by Kelly H — January 17, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
I’m a mom that did not feel any regrets that her children grew up–it was part of the journey & reason to celebrate & be proud.
Off the subject, I was here briefly this morning thinking it was Friday so was surprised to see a blog about your daughter! What was I thinking!!
Enjoy your dinner celebration tonight.
Comment by Donna M — January 17, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
Congratulations to Danielle
Comment by Cherylann — January 17, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
Congratulations Danielle you should be very proud with all that you have accomplished!
Happy Birthday Don! Now its time to 
Comment by erin — January 17, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
Janelle, Heartiest congrats to Danielle, you & Don (happy B-Day to youuuuu). To have raised a lovely, caring & hardworking daughter is a great accomplishment in & of itself. Will you have a problem with her gaining entrance to an OR college (since she wouldn’t be a long-term resident at that point)? On the other hand, even as an out-of-stater, it might be less expensive than a CA one. Bottom line, good luck to her being happy wherever she lands.
Have a great time tonight.
Patricia A.
Comment by Patricia — January 17, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
Sometimes taking a semester off is a good thing. Especially when you graduate early. Heather did and it worked out well. My grandson, who was an A student in HS, didn’t. He also dropped 2 classes and failed the other 2 this first semester. A hard and expensive lesson to learn. I hope she enjoys all the little things (haha) that you will have her helping with in the move.
Do you have a move date yet???
Comment by ev — January 17, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
Janelle, Correction to my post #35. Because my neighbor’s son had a problem when his family moved out of state, what I MEANT to say was “have you (collectively) had an opportunity to check with OR colleges to see if there might be a problem (financially) with Danielle being a new OR resident?…… Bottom line, I wish her much happiness wherever she lands.” Sorry, I really didn’t phrase my original post well.
Patricia A.
Comment by Patricia — January 17, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
Patricia — Danielle is starting with community college for the first two years, then transferring after that. We’re looking into the CC’s around where we’ll be living, and go from there.
Ev — No move date yet. Don will be starting his new job on February 11th, and hopefullly the house won’t take TOO long to sell. But you just don’t know — at least not in this market.
Comment by Janelle — January 18, 2008 @ 1:00 am
Janelle, major congratulations to your daughter!
Comment by Diana — January 18, 2008 @ 1:06 am
Congrats Danielle!
Happy Birthday Don!
Comment by Elisa V — January 18, 2008 @ 1:10 am
My youngest did the same thing, got done in 3 years - which is very cool because the state of Texas gives a small scholarship for those who do!
Comment by Alison — January 18, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
Hooray for Danielle!! And hooray for you and your husband, Janelle! Hope you’ll have a chance to enjoy some celebrating this weekend! How wonderful!
Comment by Fedora — January 18, 2008 @ 2:54 pm
Congratulations to your daughter and to the entire family! I send
congratulations to all of you because such an endeavor always takes
the involvement of the entire family! This is turning out to be a big
day for graduation news. I just found out this morning that my
youngest daughter will complete her college days early and will “walk”
with her class later in the year!
Pat Cochran
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Comment by Patricia Cochran — January 22, 2008 @ 3:58 pm