This is another of those "nothing pithy, just catching up" posts... with a little extra thought & wonderment hidden inside.
Miriam is 17. SEVENTEEN! What the heck happened to that scrawny little baby I watched bonding with my sister in China?!? (Just a few hours ago, she and three of her closest fellow adoptee friends were seriously talking about the possibility of the four of them renting a place for a few days at the beach next year. Yikes.)
She is now a high school senior. Technically, she's not one until school actually starts in September... but the day after all of this year's seniors graduated, a teacher pointed out that her class is now the Senior Class of 2027 so yeah... she considers herself a senior. She came out of her junior year with a higher grade point average than I ever dreamt of when I was her age, including several AP classes for through she's already earned college credits. She's also been elected President of at least three of the clubs she's involved with for the upcoming 2026-27 school year.
Memberships? Lessee... National Honors Society. National English Honors Society. National History Honors Society. National Music Honors Society. International Thespian Society. Oh, and mid-week last week she received a Letter of Commendation for Academic Standing.
This summer, she'll be spending some time with a paid(!) internship related to her goal to become a veterinarian. We're all kind of holding our breath because the Pipsqueak does NOT, repeat NOT, like anything that seems even remotely related to bugs... and the group she'll be working with specializes in presentations & education about arthropods. Should be interestin', as they say...
This week, after a few fits & starts, she got her driver's license. AJ had already bought a new(ish) car, so now I've had the absotively posilutely mind-blowing experience of looking over at the car next to me at a stoplight and seeing my niece waving at me from behind the wheel.
Related to the above, when we all went out to dinner to celebrate the family's newest licensed driver, Miriam made an off-the-cuff remark to AJ that the previous day was the last time she'd have to drive her to school in the morning. This was promptly followed by Miriam getting up and holding one of the world's longest Mommy hugs when she realized not just what she said but what it also meant. (Some goals are bittersweet when achieved.)
I'm slowly getting used to the idea that we aren't going to have any more afternoon drives to the dance studio, during which we would talk about everything from who was dating who in school to national politics to why she was freaking out over her too-crowded but self-imposed schedule to explaining details the Health teacher glossed over in the reproductive health unit (TBH, these made me sweat a bit, but we were both grownups about it) to how much we miss her Grandpa and how worried we are about her Grandma to... well, to pretty much anything under the sun. (Always with the occasional "OH! I LOVE THIS SONG!" followed by a sing-along with the 80s station I keep my car radio tuned to.) I have to admit that I'm really, really, REALLY gonna miss those snippets of time where it was just the two of us. On paper, I'm "just" an adoptive uncle, but this is My Little Girl and everyone knows it.
In Chinese dance, she just performed for what is likely the last time ever with some of the girls she's danced with since she was five years old. All three had basically graduated from the program but came back for this particular performance; one is almost 18, one is already 18, and one is 19; all three have either graduated from high school or finished their freshman year of college. The teacher made the remark that Miriam is "her baby" and that when she graduates next year, it will be a difficult transition despite her now running a successful private Chinese dance program with many students.
In competitive (Western) dance, Miriam competed two different solos this season, along with being in several small and large group dances. The result is that we now semi-joke about AJ needing a bigger house to make room for all her daughter's plaques, trophies, and certificates. (The kid can dance.) She also taught a "littles" class during the season, and is now teaching a total of five(!) classes for the "littles" and younger students during the summer.
Miriam is well along in the process of writing essays for her college admissions applications, and is trying to get as much of the whole process out of the way as quickly as possible. She's got a list of eight "Plan A" schools and is slowly building a list of "Plan B" schools just in case -- but I don't doubt her ability to be accepted into almost any school she chooses. Paying for it may be a bit of an adventure, but we'll all do what we have to... and she's been careful to pick schools that are more likely to be affordable and/or have more opportunities for scholarships.
In short, it's been a heck of a year so far -- in a good way. We're all hangin' in and dealing with the (many) varied sources of day-to-day stress, especially involving Tigger (the cat). He had a major medical situation recently and to be honest is not doing nearly as well as we'd like despite ongoing extra care, meds, and special food. In human terms he's in his late 80s so it's expected, but still... He's the last family pet that Mom & Dad had together, and one of the first that Miriam met when she came home. Fingers (and eyes, and toes, and lungs, and pancreas) remain crossed but sometimes one has to prepare for what one does not want to prepare for,
As for me? Well, earlier this year I collected my first coronary stent, and recently spent a ridiculous amount of money to (hopefully) keep my car safely on the road for another couple of years, and every morning am now taking enough pills to rattle when I walk... but overall my health is good and improving, and everyone keeps telling my my tests show that I'm actually a very healthy person as long as I take care of myself, so that's what I'm working on doing a much better job of doing.
After all... I want to see how many more honors the Pipsqueak earns this year... and for a lot of years yet to come. She's truly at the point where she's not a "kid" anymore, but a young woman with quite the head on her shoulders and the drive to achieve whatever goals she sets for herself.
But in my mind's eye. I still see that scrawny little girl in a booster seat in the back of my car. :-)
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