Josie Dawn Coleman
*disclaimer - I am going to brag and go on and on about my beautiful daughter in this blog post. Ü
This blog post has been a long time coming. Not because it isn't one of my favorite topics or because I've been too busy. It is because every time I even thought about Josie I turned into a ball of tears. I'm doing better these days, but now and then, at the oddest moments, I still get a little emotional. I hope that is okay and even normal. I just miss our daughter, our oldest child. I miss having her sweet spirit in our home. I miss Josie.
I keep reminding myself that I must remember that I got exactly what I wanted. Our goal was to raise a self-confident, independent, strong young woman that loved God, worked hard, and loved life. That is exactly what we got. So I ask myself all of the time, "Why then, is this so hard?"
Honestly, it felt like the rug was pulled from under our feet. We were having a grand time. My parents drove to Ohio for the occasion. She graduated on Friday. We had an
awesome party (thanks for all your help with that mom & dad) on Saturday. Then bright and early Sunday morning my 17 year old (she turned 18 two months later) put her bags in the back of my dad's truck, kissed us goodbye, and moved to Idaho....with my heart. Layne and I just sat down on the couch and hugged and cried. I was pretty much useless at church that day. Thank goodness for all of my sweet sisters in the gospel that held me up that day.
I didn't function very well for the next couple weeks. Then one day, while I was making dinner, Justin yelled for the house to hear, "Mom's cooking again!" That is when I knew that I needed to buck up and get back into life. Oh, by the way, Justin told me not to worry because he never plans on moving away. Right now that sounds perfect, but I'm guessing in about 9 years I'll be writing this same type of post about the baby of the family.
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The next six months flew by with the boys. There was swimming and baseball and football and school and church, and projects that Layne keeps us busy with. Yep, my life went on and I didn't die. Josie is as busy as she always was, and loves living in Idaho. She lived with my parents during the summer and worked for my mom. She turned 18 and has been able to spend some time with her cousins and aunts and uncles. She was able to spend a good amount of time with my Grandma Fern over the summer, and that meant more to me than words can say. Now she lives in Rexburg and is as busy as she always was. She works on campus and for my mom on weekends. She has a nice load of credits at school and finds time to have fun with new friends.
It is now beyond time I documented that very special time in our lives. A very special time in Josie's life! So here we go. Today I'm going to brag about Josie.
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These things are not in of any kind order. Also, about a month after she graduated and moved to Idaho my darling son deleted every picture on my camera, by accident. There were a lot of tears shed by all. My mom had a few snap shots that she emailed me, but we no longer have pictures of her graduation party and the other million pictures I took those last few days of May 2013. I was so mad at myself. I couldn't believe I hadn't at least downloaded them onto the computer. Oh well. Can't change anything about that situation, and I'm thankful we do have a few pictures to enjoy.
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Senior Prom 2013 King & Queen
Josie Coleman & Sean D |
Josie and few of her friends went to their Senior Prom together. They had so much fun. She was voted Prom Queen and was completely shocked. Her friend Sean was voted as King. They didn't go to the dance together, but when I saw their picture in the paper I about died laughing. They matched!
Benjamin Logan High School had six valedictorians in the Class of 2013. Josie was one of them. She worked her butt off through those school years, taking very challenging classes that often brought her to tears in the late night hours. She scored high enough on the AP classes that she took to earn college credit. She drove her physics teacher mad with lots of questions, but when presenting her with a scholarship from Benjamin Logan School District he described her as, "if you were lucky enough to get to know Josie you were a better person because of it."
Here is a portion of an article from our local paper, The Bellefontaine Examiner.
Benjamin Logan announces six valedictorians
(photo: Jeff Rose)
Josie Dawn Coleman (right) is the daughter of Layne and Cassie Coleman. She
has participated in Marching Band, National Honor Society, Japanese National Honor Society, Class Officer – Senior Treasurer, Student Government, and M.I.T. Josie will be attending Brigham Young University – Idaho majoring in Accounting.
She was an officer in the Key Club, President of the Japanese National Honor Society, Secretary of the Logan County National Honor Society, OMUN, Field Commander for Ben Logan's marching band, show choir member, won numerous awards from the school and local businesses for academic work & projects, earned her Young Woman in Excellence Award, learned to play the piano, flute, piccolo, and bassoon, and graduated with honors. Plus, during her senior year somehow she worked at a dentist office (cleaning after hours), tutored students in Japanese, tutored students on the bassoon, worked at a used bookstore, and was an assistant for a dog breeder. How's that for a mixture of interests?
Here are a few pictures of her senior year.
2013 Benjamin Logan Graduates
Josie Coleman & Beth Termains
Josie & Beth @ Homecoming 2013
Josie, Jordyn, Kelsey & Beth
Senior Prom 2013
Josie Sr. Prom 2013
Josie with some marching band buddies. 2013
There are days I still find myself watching out the window in the evening for Josie to get home from work. There are nights that I have set six places at the table for dinner. But one good thing that I've found is that 2000 miles seems much closer now than it did 19 years ago when I moved here thanks to Skype and Face-Time. Plus...phone calls are cheap (or free)! And she has a whole family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, great grandmother, great-aunts & great-uncles nearby. That is such a comfort to both Layne and I.
Congratulations, Josie! We love you! We are proud of you! We are blessed to have you as a daughter!
