During the past month, many of my friends and family are celebrating a graduation of one type or another. Pre-school, Kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, graduate school, are all recognizable milestones in a young person’s life. During May and June, each year we gather to listen to Pomp and Circumstance marches as our special person lines up and falls into step with their fellow graduates.
Some wear robes and funny square caps, many wear Oakleys and even a few, I’ve heard, bathing suits under the robe. (I did on a scorching day in June 1977). Graduation marks a level of achievement- a completion of a program of study that is expected to lead to more study and higher levels of achievement.
Let’s think about that. Getting out of school at whatever grade we exit, is really only a temporary achievement.
Don’t we have graduations of one sort or another all our lives?
I graduated to becoming a wife in 1984. I graduated to motherhood with the birth of my first child. I graduated to being a lawyer when I passed the bar in 1984. I graduated to being a homeowner in 1987. I had many gradual graduations throughout my career and as my family grew.
With the birth of a child, the purchase of a new home or career growth, divorce or any significant change in our lives means we all constantly graduate onto a new stage of our lives and of those we love.
What was your last graduation?
Don’t forget to celebrate.
