A Mom in Middle School

One Last Party

Abbie caught me, hugging me from behind as I tried to compose myself. Ella-Mae and Jake waved to me. I waved back.

    "What's going on? Do you know those guys?" Abbie asked, right as Blake found us, too.

    "I-it's O-p-pal," I said, trying to choke out the words.

    "Surprise!" Jake said when they reached me.

    "Congrats grad!" said Ella-Mae. She set the carrier Opal was in on the ground. "You made our lives so special when we adopted Opal, so we wanted to be here on the special day when you were adopted too."

    "Grace told us you really missed her, too," Jake said.

    "Thank you guys s-so m-much," I said, kneeling down so I could see my little girl. "Is this okay, though? I thought my contract said semi-closed adoption, which meant I wasn't allowed to have visits?"

    "Visits can be at our discretion," said Ella-Mae. "Would you like to hold her?"

    "Yes, of course I would," I said, crying happy tears.

    She lifted Opal out of the carrier and placed her in my arms. I was in awe at how much she'd grown in two weeks. They had her in the cutest pink and yellow polka-dotted onesie. I loved her so much.

    "Guys, this is Opal," I said to Abbie and Blake.

    "Aww! I love her! Look at those cheeks!" Abbie said.

    "Yeah, she's really cute, Ros," said Blake.

    Our families came over, and Ann Marie was overjoyed at the fact that she could take a billion more pictures of us. The photo of me in my graduation outfit and holding Opal was the screensaver on my Razr phone for the longest time. I got more pictures on my phone of me and Opal, too,

    "Alright Pine Crest graduates, if you're attending the dance, please grab your dancing shoes and report to the cafeteria!" said a voice over the intercom.

    "It's getting a little chilly out here," said Ella-Mae.

    "I can...put her back down," I said.

    I looked down at Opal, held her close one last time, and put her down into her carrier, then covered her with the blanket Ella-Mae gave me.

    "Thank you again for our daughter, Ros. I don't know how we can ever repay you," said Ella-Mae.

    "You don't even have to. I know she'll have the best life possible with you two," I said.

It was hard to watch them walk away with her, but it felt easier than when I was at the hospital. 

    Abbie, Blake, and I took off our graduation outfits and gave them to our families, then parted ways and headed into our middle school for the last time. It was strange how the dance was in the cafeteria instead of the gym, like all the other ones, but we rolled with it. Kids were dancing on the tables and the chaperones didn't even care.

    The DJ played a lot of the classics, like Usher's Yeah!, Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, and the Cha-Cha Slide. We were all screaming at the top of our lungs to the lyrics of Get Low.

    "To the window! To the wall!" shouted the entire room.

    At some point we formed a big circle and a bunch of people were showing off their skills while doing the worm. Then, somehow a dance battle started. People were going one at a time and doing cartwheels, summersaults, and dance moves I probably had never seen before. There was a kid named Peter who was on our bus who took a turn. Two seconds after he started dancing, someone ran up and pulled his pants down. And let me tell you, that poor soul was wearing briefs. Not boxers. Everyone in that room saw his tighty-whities.

    We finished off the night with the YMCA and then, much to Blake's delight, Cotton Eyed Joe. I didn't even know there was a specific dance for this song, but Blake knew the whole thing. He tipped his fedora like it was a cowboy hat and just brought the house down.

This was at the point where people were already leaving and Blake was basically dancing alone in a corner by the ice-cream machine that Abbie and I were eating M&M cookie sandwiches from, but damn, he was killing it and we were so proud of him. I'd never seen him so confident before.

When the song ended, us, the chaperones, and all the kids who were still around clapped and cheered for him. He was practically blushing from happiness. That night was truly the perfect finale to follow my crazy year.