Jason Graduates

Jason’s pre-school class graduated last night in a nice ceremony including a “march” (in felt “mortarboard” caps), songs from the kids and comments on each graduate from their teacher as the diplomas were handed out.

As a side drama, everyone in the place seemed to be having camera troubles. The guy behind my mom was cursing out his Canon video camera, a lady next to me hit the “record” button on her digital camera only to get a “Memory Full” message, and I discovered that the battery I’d just charged for my Sony now showed “1 minute” of remaining power. I also had the digital still camera, but the flash has a throw of about 11 feet and I was at least 20 feet away, resulting in dark images. The image actually looked better through the viewfinder with the flash off, but with no flash the little “shaky hand” icon comes on and it refuses to hold focus. I ended up saving my one minute for Jason’s diploma presentation and managed to catch it, thankfully.

I think they could make some money bringing a professional videographer in for these school events and selling the recordings to parents. Anyway it’d beat having everyone climbing all over each other, crawling down the aisle and standing on pews to get a half-decent shot.

Jason’s going to miss the kids at school; he made a lot of friends this year. He’ll also miss his teacher, Miss Jennifer, who did an amazing job keeping him focused and getting him to observe the niceties of group interaction, like sharing and waiting his turn. It also helped that he made a (girl)friend in Annelise, a blonde charmer who sticks to him like glue. Jason has always been a kid who wants to call the shots, while Annelise was always a follower. Together they’ve reversed their roles, with Jason at Annelise’s beck and call, and Annelise perfectly willing to take charge. It’s been a good situation for both of them, and as a bonus Scotty’s taken to Annelise’s little sister, Celia. Their parents are great folks, too.

Last night after all the pomp and circumstance, the kids ran around squealing and it took some doing to get Jason and Annelise to hold still for a photo in their caps. I managed it, though, and Annelise even put her arm around Jason and gave a big smile for the picture. Which of course turned out blurry.