105
I've been weepy all day, openly emotional, as I watch my girls cross the stage and receive their high school diplomas, and it's hard to keep the tears at bay as Angela takes the podium. She stops to whisper softly to Principal Green, a man who was just as proud of her being elected valedictorian as we were. He walks her to the podium and adjusts the microphone. She takes a moment to adjust her stoles and her hair before pulling a small stack of notecards out of her robes.
Bella squeezes my hand tightly.
"Welcome, Seniors." Her calming voice rings through the auditorium. "We did it."
The graduating class agrees with cheers and applause, stopping to let her continue.
She's been working on her speech for weeks, and I've heard it too many times to count in practice rounds, but watching her stand before her fellow seniors takes me back to her first day of preschool. Small pigtails and a backpack she made Gianna pack and repack a dozen times the night before, full of books and freshly sharpened pencils.
Alice cried every morning for the first couple of weeks, but not Angela.
No. She was excited to learn. Excited to make friends. Excited to experience everything, and she wanted to do it all at once.
"There were moments when I questioned everything I was doing … where I was filled with doubt, and I know all of you felt the same way at some point, but we did it."
I muffle a sob against my knuckles, remembering the times she was inconsolable after getting what she considered a bad grade. Always striving for perfection, always pushing herself to be the best. Her little sister made fun of her because Bs were considered passing grades, and we never gave them a hard time when it came to schooling. But not to Angela. It was As or nothing from kindergarten straight up to her final exams.
"All of our hard work and dedication has finally paid off."
These past few years have been a testament to that. We've had our ups and downs and while there were a lot more ups than there were downs, she never lost her flame. She was always just Angela, smart and courageous.
"We're going to leave this building tonight, no longer high school students. This chapter of our lives is coming to a close—" She chokes on tears, and my heart constricts.
In the crowd, I can see Alice standing on her tiptoes, biting her lip and willing her sister to just look her way. As soon as their eyes meet, Angela nods and squares her shoulders, looking back down at her speech.
"We're all going to go our separate ways, but I, for one, know that I'll never forget where I came from. I wouldn't want to, and I hope you wouldn't either. We were here. We made a difference, and we're going to do great things. We did it, and we'll always be Spartans."
"I want to thank the teachers who molded us into the adults we are now. My sister for always being by my side. My dad for his unfailing faith, and my mom—"
Bella's grip is now painful as Angela collects herself. "Thank you for coming into our lives the way you did and completing our family. Congratulations, guys. We did it."