congratulations... you're leaving?

so of course everyone is up and about... and it's ooh, 4:45a... hello?!... some of us need our beauty sleep... lol... but i know... today is a big day... the little el's big day... woohoo...

so everyone is getting ready and bumping each other in the hall... "who's in this bathroom?" "fine i'll use the other one"... "have you seen my brush"... "how about my clips"... aii.. utter madness... in a house where the women still outnumber the men... lol

finally, finally everyone is packed into the car and we're off... first we drop off the "little el" and the grandparents... as we pull up to the school everyone is walking around in their "best outfits"... some of them have been planning for months for the day and others are just glad that it's finally here... smiles everywhere... we barely stop the car and the little el is instantly greeted with a group of her closest friends... and as girls do they're all talking at once... "oh my gosh, i love your dress "little el""... "did you see her shoes? where did you get them little el"... "you have to come and see what corey did to his hair"...

i give the "little el" a hug and tell her we have to go and get her flowers... we head to the flower shop to pick up the leis and hairpiece which i had ordered a month ago... we arrive at the flower shop and it's just our luck that someone is leaving and we easily find parking right in front of the shop... great, i think, this is going to be easy...

i walk into the flower shop where i'm a pretty regular customer and i tell the guy that i'm there to pick up my order... well of course the shop is bursting with women all wanting to pick up some leis before they head out to their graduation ceremonies... meanwhile i notice my guy is looking a little flustered... he's going back and forth to the different refrigeration case moving boxes around all of which i can see... i will myself not to panic...

he comes back to me and asks what my order is again and at that point i know i'm in trouble... i tell him that i ordered three different leis and a hairpiece... he heads back into the case to look again... he comes back and says the thing i dreaded the most "i can't seem to find your order" and heads back to the case again... aii... snake-dragon rolls down the car window and asks what's wrong... i look at him and i just can't help it... i start to cry... oh i'm a pitiful sight... lol... tears streaming down my cheeks as the guy is forced to pull leis that have probably been hanging there since yesterday... he apologizes again and says that he's not going to charge me the full price because he knows that he saw my order earlier that morning...

at which i say nothing... i can't... my throat is tight and my hands are shaking as i hand him my money... he apologizes again and all hell breaks loose... i'm crying as i walk to the car with my wilting carnation leis and brown-tipped pikake comb... i have failed the "little el"... but snake-dragon reassures me that the hairpiece will be fine and he would help the "little el" with getting it in her hair...

snake-dragon tells me that the ceremony was great... the "little el" loved being able to wear flowers in her hair... and now it was on to the celebratory dinner... woohoo...

so with just two hours before the "little el's" flight we decided to make it a quick dinner so that we could get to the airport in time... when dinner was over we headed out to the airport once again...

when we got there we found her group easily as they were a sea of red tee shirts... who's great idea was that... lol... she found her friends and they immediately picked up their conversation from where they left off just a few hours ago... their chatter and whispers made me giggle... and finally it was time for them to go... but not without a few last minutes instructions from grandma, which she politely yelled at the "litle el's" retreating back... "don't forget to drink lots of water "little el"... "and be sure to use the bathroom before you leave the hotel"...

aii... grandmothers...