Big, Big Day

Tomorrow is Ben's graduation. We have our fingers crossed that it won't rain, as the ceremony is outside.  Then we'll gather at his Dad's house to celebrate. Tonight he is packing up and getting ready to move out of his off-campus (by about ten yards) house. I celebrated at Nordstrom, spending hundreds of dollars on the start of a grownup wardrobe for him. A shopping spree is fun whether it's for yourself or not.

Four years went by very quickly for his Dad and me, but I remember all too clearly how college feels like a lifetime. Here's a glimpse into those four years.

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated his senior show.

Last summer he celebrated his birthday trying to make the Millennium Falcon fly with Darren. His dad got in on the act and they finally got it airborne.

He also got to meet the very famous (and very hospitable) Chicago artist Karl Wirsum.

In his third year he took a second bronze casting class.

This is the fifteen pound mask he made in his first bronze class. Everyone else made belt buckles. I'm just saying.

In his second year of college he went as Jesus for Halloween, which I found both high-larious and strangely convincing.

In 2010 we spent spring break in Florida, because Ben won a trip for four to Cocoa Beach and the Kennedy Space Center when we went to the premiere of Star Trek. One of the most fun vacations EVER.

We also sold our house in Skokie that year, and so this is the last picture I have of Ben and the cats on the deck.  *sigh*

But the four year journey began here, on the beautiful campus of Elmhurst College, with Ben entering his freshman year. We were all so excited. Ben kept saying, "It's not YOU going to college, Mom, remember?"

I'm so proud of him. He more than handled the transition to living on his own, organizing his classes and jobs and studying and making it look easy. He learned a lot, and talked to me about plays he was reading and his psych classes and the Fauves. He drew and painted and sculpted and took great photographs. He made some great art and some great friends, from football players to musical theater majors. He worked really hard, at the gallery and filming football games and practices in all weather. He played a lot of Angry Birds. He texted me at two in the morning (I didn't answer). He lived in three different dorms and in a house with a few friends.

Now, the world is his oyster. And he owns a DKNY suit.