On Memorial Day, a part of my family and I drove two hours up to Lake Nacona, TX to celebrate the high school graduation of our great niece and cousin. She is the first of her generation to graduate from high school. There will be two more in her family, and we’ll have three more, but not for quite a few years. 🙂
The experience made me nostalgic about this event. You know your high school graduation is like no other. In college some people decide not to walk, and even if they do, they can have several college graduations, so they lose some of their significance.
I’ve been fortunate to take part in and attend a lot of high school graduations—literally too numerous to count. I was a high school teacher in a former life, and a school board member for eight years in another former life where I spoke and made presentations at graduations. Not to mention my own high school graduation and those of our daughters. I was on the stage for my oldest daughter’s ceremony and my husband was on the board of regents for the state college form which she graduated. (He actually handed her the diploma.)
So high school graduations have significance to me. “Bittersweet” was the word I heard mentioned today. My great niece and her friends have been together since early elementary school, and now they will be going their separate ways. Oh, a couple are going to several different colleges together, but it will never be the same.
I love the opportunities stretching ahead for these young people. They have their whole lives ahead of them. To quote Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the places they will go.”
Not only have the girls been long time good buds, but their moms have too. In their 40s and 50s they’ve juggled jobs, spouses, kids, volunteer activities, and older parents. Such a lot on their plate. Several moms are done now and are empty-nesters. Others still have one or two more to graduate. What lies ahead for them? Who knows?
The heroine in many of my stories are like these women. They have children, parents, jobs, sometimes spouses, and then I throw in a bit of suspense, a murder or two, and the possibility of a new love. Stir until they can have a happily ever after. Check out my stand-alones and The Second Chances Series.
What about you? Anyone graduating this year? Children, Grands, Nieces or nephews? Maybe yourself?
I love graduations from any perspective. Such joy, excitement and “bittersweetness.” Love to hear from you.
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Word by Word 
Lovely post! It brought back many graduation memories…my own and those of the students I taught for 31 years. 🙂
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Hey, Joanne. Thanks. Yes, teachers, too experience these bittersweet moments. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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The only graduation I ever attended was my own, and it was fraught with sorrow as one of our classmates had died in a car accident just days before. It made us all suddenly grown up, with real life suddenly landing right in our laps.
The other thing that made it unusual was that those of us who had failed classes and were not officially graduating were still to cross the stage to get a “school leaving” certificate, and also back in those days, there were no caps and gowns, but all girls were required to wear white… pretty sure I bucked the system and wore white pants instead of a dress, because I hated being told what I could or couldn’t wear, and saw no point buying a dress I would never wear again 😀
Nice, but odd.
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Hey, Kathryn. How sad the loss of your classmate. 😦 The struggles with whether kids can walk or not without passing everything has been around for a long time. When I was on the school board, we took the stance that you could only walk if you’d passed. Made a lot of parents mad, but how was it fair to let those kids get basically the same recognition as those who did pass. No easy answer on this tough question. I’m not surprised you wore pants! Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
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We had two college graduations this year, a nephew and cousin. Didn’t go because they only could have so many attend.
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Hey, Vicki. Yes, that’s common now to limit the number in attendance. We only went to our niece’s party and not the graduation itself. Still, special times. Thanks for stopping by.
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Reblogged this on Jacquie Biggar-USA Today Best-selling author and commented:
Marsha Riegert West shares graduation memories on the Sisterhood of Suspense #blog today. Do you have a graduation story to share? Stop by, we’d love to hear from you 🙂
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I never graduated (decided working and having fun was more important- dummy!) but attended my daughter’s a few years ago with great pride!
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Hey, Jacquie. Well, we don’t always make the best decisions when we’re young. LOL Celebrating our kids’ accomplishments are really special, maybe even more than our own. Thanks for re-blogging and for stopping by. 🙂
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