Silver Wings, Upon Their Chest...

So finally, here we are... 

I promised as I did the post here, that there was more to come on Momma's big night.  It took a while to get around to it, but here we are!

We left Garner a little earlier than we normally would have to ensure that we were back in time for the nurse pinning ceremony at DMACC for Momma and the ladies who graduated the program with her.  We got about 1/2 at home before we had to get ready and leave to drive back to Ankeny (which we had driven through on our way home).

We get up there, find the building and the room with very little problem.  We managed to keep the boys' fingers out of the cake and got a table to seat ourselves for the evenings proceedings.

This is just a wide shot of people milling about, Caleb getting close to the cake, other folks taking pictures and the what not.

Aunt Molly has arrived!  Mom is writing a brief dedication in a book for someone, while Rob takes a break from his George Washington book and Caleb looks on in disgust.

Here are the masters of the ceremony for the evening as it's summer, late notice for the instructors to speak, so Mom and her friend Krista (I think I've spelled it correctly) did the introductions for all the graduates.  They did a fine job and it was a very nice ceremony with everyone getting a chance to say a few words.

After Krista introduced, Momma Lesley the Nurse, I had the honor and near impossible task of pinning her... uh... pin, to her blouse.  My fingers are WAY too big to control the WAY too small apparatus of the pin.  It took a long time which is why we're giggling.

We were required to stand up in front of the other peeps while Krista wrapped up what she had to say about Mom.  It looks like Mom took offense to something in this photo and is ready to "throw  down"!

Here's a shot of the 8 grads reciting/reading their nursing oath.

The Des Moines area's new nurses!  I think it was evident throughout the evening that the families were proud of everything these women have gone through.  It's obviously not easy, nor should it be with the field they're going into, but they did it, and Dad, Robby and Caleb are proud to have our own personal nurse in the fold.  I have a suspicion that it will come in handy more than once with the way the three of us carry on.

And then there was the cake!  Cake with white and blue frosting!  Robby has a knack for getting ice cream, frosting, peanut butter and whatever else all around his mouth as much as he gets the kibble in it.  Let this serve as proof.

Caleb, not wanting to be shown up, sticks out his tongue not realizing that you have to eat the frosting instead of scraping it off to get the blue tongue and teeth.

And a picture of the Mobile Chaos Unit as we were ready to head out and pack it up for the evening.

And there we have it.  Almost seems hard to believe that she's done with school already but then if I think back to the time when I can recall her talking to me in the skywalks of downtown Des Moines about quitting her job and going back to school for nursing, it seems like forever ago.

Such is the dichotomy of life, I guess.

Regardless of my pontificating about things I'll never fully grasp, I say a hearty congratulations and I'm proud of you for taking the leap of faith!