Today I took Sophia to get her senior yearbook photo taken. When I scheduled the appointment a little piece of me broke. Since then, every time I think of our baby graduating high school next year (which is often), I break a little more. I received an email about two or three weeks before the end of the school year letting me know it was time to schedule senior yearbook photos. I was not ready for that email. The 4th quarter of Sophia’s Junior year was a bit rough. She missed more school than usual (choir tour, cousins’ out of state wedding, and getting sick after the wedding) and had difficulty catching up in her classes. It was a struggle, but she passed her classes and finished out the 24-25 year to the relief of all of us here at home. When the email came, we were all in the midst of end of school year stress and it was an annoyance I did not want to deal with. So I didn’t. The fact is, Sophia’s looming senior year had already been on my mind, but I had been keeping the feelings at bay so as not to totally lose control of my wavering emotions. It was around that time when I told Marc, during a bit of an emotional leak, “I have a year to get my crap together, and if I don’t, I’m going to be a complete wreck when Sophia graduates”.

HENCE THE REBIRTH OF THE FAMILY BLOG

I feel compelled to explain the process I went through to get to this point of sharing this journey on this platform. Let’s take it back a few…..(I’ll say for posterities sake, but maybe others will read this and need some context).

As an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we look forward to our twice a year General Conference where we get to hear from our church leaders. It is a weekend that gives a spiritual boost and when I come to the conference prepared with questions, I find answers. Every time. Even when I do not come with questions, the Holy Spirit does impress upon my mind and heart thoughts and ideas that if I put into practice, will help mold me into the person The Lord needs me to be. I have been trying very hard over the past several years to pay attention to spiritual promptings and put forth the effort to follow through with these promptings because I need The Lord’s support and I want to become a better person for myself and for my family. During the April 2025 General Conference, I received two distinct impressions. One was that I needed to spend more time in the temple. Now, this came as a bit of a surprise to me since Marc and I have been having weekly temple dates for years now and I honestly did not know how I was going to squeeze more time in the temple into my already busy schedule. Well, on one of our weekly temple dates, as I was sitting in the celestial room, I had the thought come to me that I could schedule one more temple trip a month on the morning of the day of the week that I worked the closing shift at work. This would take some sacrifice but I knew it would be worth it. I gave this some more thought and came up with a plan to invite a friend on the first Thursday of each month early in the morning to attend with me. I reached out to a friend and scheduled an appointment for June. It was at this appointment that I realized I could write my way through my feelings during Sophia’s senior year. It was during my Come Follow Me scripture study a week later that I realized I could use this family website platform for this purpose. I sure love my Savior and am so grateful for personal revelation.

Okay, back to Sophia’s senior photos.

Once school was out for summer break, I scheduled Sophia’s senior yearbook photo and today was that day. Last night (at Sophia’s request) I helped her pick out what she was going to wear. We left at noon today and headed to the GRADS photo studio down the street for her appointment. They had her sign a banner for her graduating class while she waited for her sitting time. The studio was quick, ran on time and her photographer was friendly and kind. While we were waiting, Sophia’s friend Logan showed up for her appointment as well. It was nice chatting with Logan’s mom for a few minutes. Both of us dumbfounded as to how we have ended up here at the beginning of our daughters’ senior year so quickly. These two girls have been friends since kindergarten.

As Sophia sat in the hot seat and followed the photographers’ instructions on how to sit and hold her head, I was taken aback by how grown up she looked and what a beautiful young woman she has grown into. She is stunning. The photographer took a few shots and with each one, I peered behind the photographers’ shoulder and saw the images on the camera screen. My breath was taken away and my eyes became misty. I’m okay with the tears. In fact, I plan to just let my tears flow when they need to throughout this school year in hopes that I cry enough tears during the 25-26 year that when graduation comes, I’m all cried out and I can just be happy during our celebrations for my daughter and the awesome person she is and her wonderful accomplishments.

We shall see.