Oh, let's see. In the last month, Cal had move-up night to the Upper School, got his learner's permit, started driving us everywhere, won our family NCAA basketball pool (I was a close second), started his baseball season at school, finished reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and started reading Romeo & Juliet. There's more. He proudly remembered my birthday in German class when his teacher asked him (makes this momma proud, too).

As for me. Well. I took a film class, but I already told you about that. I learned a lot. Like how much I have left to learn (wink). Seriously, though, I put so many pieces together, and now when I look at scans that I didn't quite get right, I actually learn why. Hey! Learning is good! As far as finding that ever-elusive voice? I'm still working on that. Still, I got a camera for my birthday, and I used it to take these shots. I think I like it. Portraits are fun. I think I'll just keep shooting and trust that everything will work itself out. Slow and steady, you know?

I think Shakespeare had it right: “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” That's from Romeo and Juliet, in case you didn't know.

And you remember how this works, right? I'm sharing this journey with some other amazing film photographers, so follow along the circle and check out their stunning images. Next up is Maggie Wright. I love her gorgeous shots.

So last night was move-up night. At Cal's school, upper school covers 10th, 11th and 12th grade, so as a 9th grader, Cal has been in his last year of middle school this year.

It's exciting to hear about the changes that will take place as Cal moves into upper school. More freedom, more responsibility. More electives. More choices. More of everything. Good stuff, but daunting too as we face the prospect of college down the not-too-distant pike.

As we were walking in, we ran into the woman who'd been his 2nd grade teacher at another school, and it struck me then how funny school can be. How distinct the passage of time is, marked so specifically, year by year. And how nice it was to be there, walking in to face his 10th grade year with all his past years strung out behind him. Some of those years were not so great. Second grade was a good one.

This year has been good too, but always around April, I'm ready for summer. I told a friend of mine, another mom, that I think summer vacation should pretty much start the day after spring break, but I get restless like that. And if I'm feeling restless, how must it feel to this kid who drove us to school last night? My big kid. Flying high.

one kid, one roll, on film :: april

move up night