Jennifer Garner is experiencing bittersweet joy.
The 13 Going on 30 actress shared she’s feeling emotional because her and Ben Affleck‘s daughter Violet, 18, recently hit a major milestone by finishing high school.
“Tell me you have a graduate without telling me you have a graduate,” she wrote on Instagram May 20. “bless our hearts.”
One photo showed Jennifer crying in a crowd while clapping for the grads, while another shot captured her wiping away tears on the outdoor campus.
However, the 52-year-old seemingly had a close call and almost missed the festivities, as she posted a video from a plane of her saying, “How are we going to make it? What are we going to do?”
Although Jennifer—who also shares kids Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, with Ben—didn’t share photos of Violet in her cap and gown, she’s shared other updates on how her eldest has been preparing for her next chapter.
In fact, Jennifer explained in November that Violet was in the middle of the college application process.
“The excitement and stress go hand-in-hand,” she shared on Live with Kelly and Mark at the time. “She’s handling it like a champ and she’s totally in charge. She’s a self-starter.”
The Alias star—who has been dating John Miller since 2018—added, “I’m proud of her no matter what.”
But even as her kids get older, some things never change, including her sweet Mother’s Day tradition with Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
“I have one ask, and it is that when my kids were really little, on some Mother’s Day, they all sat on my lap one after the other all at once for a picture,” she said on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast in May. “And I want that picture every year, even though it’s ridiculous at this point. They’re so big. But I make them take it and they are just like, ‘Mom.’ But that’s my ask.”