celebration – Page 3 – trippingdifferently

July 19, 2023

Graduated! Matura Done! Next Chapter…

I am a proud mother of a young man who has graduated from the Gynamisum in Solothurn, Switzerland. That’s pre-uni level for our family and friends in other parts of the world.

So he has breezed through 2 years of kindergarten, found his feet during 6 years in primary school, survived 2 years of secondary school and put in the hard work for his 4 years of Gymi (pre-uni); a total of 14 years of formal education!

There was a lovely graduation ceremony at the end of June. I really liked it. It was filled with speeches, music and dance. One of the more moving and inspiring speeches was by this well-known singer/poet who has Iranian heritage (I have sadly forgotten her name) and she spoke so movingly about how women in Iran have no movement in all aspects of their lives, thus have little choice in their direction in life. The ceremony’s theme was Movement – so she encouraged the graduates to take hold of their options to have choices and to move forwards in life.

Here are a few photos from that lovely ceremony, which took place in a redevelopment of an old cement factory:

Next chapter for my boy – National Service in Singapore. While he has deferment pending renunciation of citizenship, he has chosen to serve. We fully support his decision. It would be good for him to experience life in Singapore and have some time to consider what he might want to do for further studies or a career.

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June 21, 2023

Final Teen Year…

So this was a month ago, but still relevant… in some ways, it’s good to blog about it today, which is the summer solstice and the last day of Tobias’ final exams.

Yep, a month ago he turned 19 and today he finished the last of his exams for his pre-university education.

It seems like such a long time ago that we were sending him to his first day at kindergarten and yet at the same time, the years have just flashed by. Such a clichè thing to say but nevertheless it’s true.

Are there things I wish I could go back and redo or unsay? Of course. Has it been filled with heartache and tears? Some of it. But it was also filled with joy, laughter and adventures.

In a few months, he is off to serve NS (National Service) in Singapore. A whole new chapter of his life and our journey as his parents, as a family.

I wanted to link to all the previous birthday posts but decided it was too much. So I am going to link to just this one – for his 9th birthday, 10 years ago, where I also mentioned clichè and comtemplated if I would be ready for him to venture out on his own.

I don’t know if I am 100% ready but I know it’s a great next step for him to take out into the big wide world. Are you a parent whose children have flown the nest? How was it? How did you manage the complete change in lifestyle and focus? Care to share?

Here’s a few photos from Tobias’ 19th birthday:

syc

September 15, 2022

Celebrating 20 Years…

Wow! 20 years of marriage… it’s not super long but it’s a good length of time. It has not been plain sailing all the way, but we have had our moments and we have journeyed together through it all.

We don’t do big celebrations, never have done. So it was our usual quiet celebratory dinner out. The husband chose a brand new restaurant to try, like super brand new; they were only opened a week or two ago. The food was nice. The service was a little slow but considering it was just two persons managing front of house and they’re new, it’s ok.

Here are a few pictures: