Commencement — move forward

Graduation, changes, growth and development — changes in every venue of life — personal, family, community — define our times. When we’re young, so often we view life in relation to “when I graduate” or “when I get that job” or “when I get married.” It’s as though we believe when we hit those landmarks, life will be settled, routine, in order. I’ll never forget when my children were young — I thought once they could walk and talk, dress themselves, buckle themselves into their car seats, then life would be easy. WRONG!

I watched mothers of teenagers and thought their lives were simple and orderly. Each of them assured me they did not “have it all together” as I thought they did, but they couldn’t convince me. Then, my children became teens. Then, adults. Then, parents.

Across the area, young people graduated from high school this weekend.

Sometimes called commencement, and probably more accurately, because, although it is the end of one phase of life, it is only the beginning of even more. For the average person, the formal school years are but a fraction of our lives.

All of my children have graduated high school.

It seems like only yesterday when I drove our first two children to college.

Change and growth can be painful, but it can also be positive.

All of our lives, we have mile markers — spots we note to which we aspire, but soon find that those points aren’t as much the end, as the beginning of a new stage.

I’ll never forget a friend saying: “We spend the first year of their life teaching them to walk and talk, and the next 18 telling them to sit down and be quiet.”

Children aspire to become teens. Teens aspire to become 20. We look for the next mile marker and often lose the joy of the journey.

Let’s commence — embark on the journey of life and face the challenges ahead. It matters not if you’re 18 or 38 or 58, life holds excitement and joy if we’ll accept the lessons and face them with optimism.

•••

Editor’s note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County, chosen the best small weekly newspaper in Arkansas for five years. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record. She has nine children, six sons-in-law, nine grandsons and three granddaughters with another due next month. The opinions expressed are those of the author. She can be reached at abeard@nwaonline.com.