A week of "lasts"

Keaghan, my second boy, finishes school this week. The school principal referred to it as a week of lasts and so it has been, even for me. On Wednesday I made his last packed school lunch (Vegemite sandwich, banana, muesli bar) Yesterday I ironed his uniform for possibly the last time. (he probably wont care about having it ironed for exams)
Wednesday was the last day of classes, yesterday was graduation and today is picnic day. As it happens my husband has taken the camera on a trip and while the kids have great cameras on their phones and we have a couple of shots from graduation, unfortunately I can't go stealing a phone and trying to figure out how to use it when I see the little moments I would like to remember.

Younger siblings at the same school were not allowed to attend graduation and Caitlin was in an exam anyway so the girls wanted to celebrate with Keaghan in their own way. Caitlin spent the afternoon, after the graduation, playing the game of Thrones card game with him and then they went shopping. It is rare for the boy to set foot in a supermarket but he wanted to take a picnic lunch to share with his girlfriend today. (School supplies a salad wrap and bottle of water) They came home with good cheese, blueberries, fruit juice, crackers and licorice then they went outside and cut flowers from our "garden". It all brought a little tear to my eye! The boy doesn't have much money to throw about but he sure does make up for it in thoughtfulness.

Briony spent most of the day helping out a friend who is temporarily a bit challenged with looking after her small boy, she is off her head on painkillers while she waits for specialists to make a decision on the best treatment for two badly broken fingers.
After helping them to get through the day Briony came home and made her signature dish of lasagne for the graduation dinner.

We put a good cloth on the table and got the nice glasses out of the box, there were helium balloons, ginger beer and multiple games of "Game of Thrones". At some point in the evening he took great care about creating a fruit salad for the picnic.

This morning Keaghan woke early to get ready for his picnic day. He dressed in his best jeans and good boots, checked the weather forecast twice, packed an extra jacket, collected the good woollen rug, packed the picnic supplies and carefully followed a list to make sure he had every essential he might forget: hat, sunscreen, cheese knife....

The posy of garden flowers for Miss E needed some wrapping so I chose a pretty piece of textured lilac paper (saved from a florist bunch) and tried to finesse it with some ribbon. I thought I did alright but Keaghan was "fixing it" when I came out of the bathroom. Only the best, eh?

I drove him to school to get the bus with his classmates and as I drove away I watched him in the mirror, putting his things down to hug a mate. As his mum I couldn't have wished for a more lovely last glimpse of his school life.