Day 6: Six hundred pictures!

This morning I made my last picture order - 664 pictures. Now, not ALL of these are of Teenager, so I won't be scrapbooking all 664 this week. The large number of pictures is the result of digital cameras, where you download them onto the computer, look at them... and then never print them off. Or if you're like my mom, who has a HUGE memory card, the pictures never make it to the computer! (Although this is the woman who, when film was developed, could find two separate Christmases on the same roll, so perhaps it's not the size of the card as much as her lack of picture-taking).

Sadly, I didn't get a chance to make a dent in the 664 pictures. Besides the usual Sunday events, and the Walmart trip to supplement my party supplies (I expect 200, but am prepared for 250), I made THE LIST. It is a grid of time, activity and identified responsible person. It will ensure nothing is forgotten, and that everything is perfect. (Yes, I realize inevitably something will go wrong. I hope that something is along the lines of... oh no I can't think of one thing I am willing to have go wrong... I don't want it to rain, or be too hot, or to have so many people there aren't enough chairs, or to have nobody show up, or to have the cake fall over, or to have the smoothie bar malfunction... Wait. I am willing to be OK if we run out of buns. Or pop. There.)

I am definitely feeling the jitters of nervousness. Or the massive convulsions of anxiety. So bring it back to the Quest: Cherish the moment. What great memory doesn't have some glaring imperfection that makes it, well, memorable? As I silently pray for peace, I realize that even if it rains cats and dogs, if the bounce horses lie lonely and unused, if the food runs out in thirty minutes, if all the cupcakes land frosting-down in the lawn, if a tornado warning forces everyone into my ugly and disgusting basement... the Teenager will still have graduated. And his friends and family came to celebrate with him.

Oh my gosh now I need to clean the basement.