This week is going to be one of the biggest weeks of my life.  And it will no doubt be a bittersweet week for our family.

First, my 18 year old daughter Ashley is graduating from High School.  Oh my goodness I am not ready to let that little girl go!  My baby….my youngest….my mini me…..  That is the bitter part of the bittersweet…having to face that she is going to leave home soon and start her life as an adult.  Although, I could not be more proud of her and the person she has become.  She is an exceptional girl with a heart of gold.  At her Senior Class dinner the other night she was awarded the “Most likely to brighten your day” by her class of peers.  That award speaks exactly to the kind of young woman she is.  She is my hero and my idol in life and I will be the proudest mama ever watching her walk across that stage and accept her diploma.

Second, the very next day after her graduation my 21 year old son Dalton is coming home from having served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Jackson Mississippi mission.  I AM SO EXCITED!  I can’t wait for that moment when I see him coming down the escalator toward baggage claim!  I haven’t seen him in two full years and I am going to give that kid the biggest hug of a lifetime!  Then we will bring him home to see his new home that we built while he was on his mission – yes we completed our new home just in time to welcome him and I am so excited to show him.  So Dalton coming home is the sweet part of the bittersweet of our upcoming week.

Two such monumental moments of life happening both in the same week.  It will be an emotion filled week for sure.

As I sat tonight talking to my daughter about her graduation this week I was reminded of my own graduation.  The gal that talked at my graduation decided for her talk she would read the words to a famous song called Forever Young.  The words to that song felt like the perfect words that day of high school graduation and as a mother they are the exact words I would say to my daughter as she graduates. Here they are:

Forever Young

May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
surround you when you’re far from home

And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you’d have done to you

Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you’ll always stay
Forever Young, Forever Young

May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
with a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain
and in my heart you will remain
Forever Young, Forever Young

And when you finally fly away
I’ll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose
I’m right behind you, win or lose
Forever Young, Forever Young
(written by: Jim Cregan, Bob Dylan, Steve Harley, Kevin Savigar)

May all of you have an amazing Monday this week and may you stay FOREVER YOUNG!

~Amy