Why Congratulations?

Media Girl is weeks away from High School graduation.

I submitted a vacation request to my employer since the graduation ceremonies occur on a weekday and the approval came back with a notation - congratulations.

I studied that word for a long time. Why should I be offered congratulations for my daughter's milestone?

The reasoning hit me during the drive home. I was looking back over the years leading up to this momentous event beginning with the baby who puked after every bottle of milk and continuing right up through the current surly teenage years. In between there were the terrible twos, the incessant nagging of a brother, the drama of junior high, the driving learner's permit.

I was being congratulated for hanging in there, for retaining my sanity, right up to the very end - Media Girl had reached 18 and was graduating. I had done my duty and lived to tell about it.

Congratulations to Motivated Mom and I!