Her senior year had not been easy as she experienced a typical case of ¨senioritis¨. I was serving as the principal of an exceptional student education center in Tampa at the time and attended monthly district meetings with all of the high school principals in the county including hers. I remember chatting with him while waiting in line to approach the meal provided for lunch one day and expressing my concern. I informed him that I had told Lauren that she had better shape up before everyone started thinking she was on drugs. He chuckled and responded with ¨If I thought every senior who rolled in tardy wearing sunglasses and carrying a Starbucks coffee was doing drugs we would be in serious trouble. I'm sure Lauren will be just fine.¨ I always liked that guy.
As graduation day approached I busied myself making plans for an after party at my house. Kevin and I were dating at the time and he was very helpful with getting everything ready. We set up tables in the living room and strung streamers from the ceiling. We had other decorations too and I had ordered a cupcake ¨cake¨ iced with her school colors...red and black. I saved one surprise for Lauren, the slide show.
My sister and I had worked for weeks putting it together. I scanned photo after photo and Okle put them all together in a wonderful show set to music. She picked a couple of songs and I picked one....a special one I knew would make Lauren cry. She and I loved the song from the film version of Mama Mia when Meryl Streep is helping her daughter prepare for her wedding. The song, ¨Slipping Through My Fingers¨, is about a mother watching her daughter grow through the years and leave home.
The day finally arrived and we all headed to the venue. Quite a few supporters came to cheer Lauren on including all of my family, Ray, our friends Tom, Cheryl, Tommy and Jeff. Ray's father and girlfriend also attended the ceremony. She stood so tall walking across the stage and of course she looked gorgeous, as always, in her red cap and gown.
We returned to my house for the post graduation celebration. Lauren (and my bank account) wanted to keep things simple so we had pizza and salad. Everyone had a wonderful time. I thought it was really cool that Lauren graduated from my high school Alma Mater. I decided to dig out my own diploma and display it beside hers. Kevin pointed out the gold sticker located next to the seal on the left side of Lauren's diploma. ¨How come yours doesn't have that?¨ he asked. ¨Because she graduated with honors and I didn't and I'd appreciate you not advertising it to everyone thank you very much.¨
When it was time for the slide show everyone was seated and quiet. Okle had saved my requested song for last. Lauren was enjoying all of the pictures, laughing and remembering old times. Then the last song started playing...our song. ¨Mom¨ she exclaimed and looked over at me. And then the tears started. Both of us cried. Mission accomplished.
I never dreamed that this very same slide show would be used at my daughter's funeral service just under two years later. Once again my sister Okle worked on making a beautiful presentation. More pictures were added and the music was changed to an instrumental version of ¨It Is Well with My Soul¨. I remember going to her house to preview the finished product and listening to that song playing. It was painful to hear at first but as it continued to play this was one of the first times I accepted that it is well...it is well with my soul.
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