Facing the future

Master Ian had a full day ahead of him and to make sure he was well-prepared to face it, Mr. and Mrs. Hall fired up the big black car and set a flightplan to the famous Borodino Pancake Breakfast. It's always nice to see all the usual suspects flipping and dishing up flapjacks and the weather was so cooperative, they decided to take the long way home along Skaneateles lake. Twitching with anticipation and loaded up with syrup and starch, Ian somehow managed to stand still long enough for Mrs. Hall to take advantage of the glorious morning light and snap some pictures of him in his gown. And it was a good thing that they did, too; June has been particularly rainy this year and by 1:00 pm the clouds were gathering precipitously. Rain came down in buckets for 15 minutes or so, but afterwards, the sky opened up and by the time the graduates had moved their tassels from left to right, the sun was shining on Marcellus again. There were several moving moments during the ceremony but the loudest cheering and clapping was when the principal gave recognition of the new air conditioning unit installed in the auditorium. ("If only they had had it for the first two children!" commented Mrs. Hall.)
Marcellus High School recognized three students for joining the military; and the principal also announced that Ian had been awarded the Iwo Jima Award from his recruiter for being in top physical condition and for his work as squad guide. The entire auditorium stood to recognize the three soldiers to be.
Afterwards, they laughed and cried, found their friends in the parking lot and said good-bye and headed home. A quick bbq dinner at the club later that evening, where they were joined at their table by Admiral John Paddock, (ret.) of the US Navy for a pep talk, rounded out the graduation celebration. Kudos to Master Ian for a job well done!