It’s been a long road for graduates

Here it is, graduation time. Each year, I try to give congratulations to all those kids who have made it though all of those years from kindergarten when they thought boy, this is fun, I’m going to enjoy all of the years ahead with crayons, paste and paper and those kids around me and a whole room of kids just like me. Little did they know in those young years what was ahead of them. When I went to kindergarten, all we did was sit in a circle and have the teacher read stories to us, sit at tables and color and as the days turned into weeks and months, we got to use paste and dollsized scissors.

Then progress moved in and the children in kindergarten didn’t have to learn how to use a computer — they had already learned at home. They know their ABCs, they can count out how much money they have in their pockets and they know the difference between a dime and a quarter. What happened? They have their own cell phones, credit cards and they don’t walk to school (some do), but either mom or dad wait outside to pick them up in the car as they grow older. Have you ever been to the school when classes are over and they are excused? I drove to school to vote in the school election and found myself there at the wrong time. I finally was fortunate someone was leaving and I got to park in the school bus garage premises and walk quite a distance to get inside the door to vote. Children don’t walk enough for their health.

The years go by and class after class until they find themselves in grade 12! How did that happen? Suddenly they realize they are going to leave that place where they began as a little person climbing each year into a different homeroom until the number 12 came up. There are some who can’t wait for June and graduation. They are out and FREE, so they think, until relatives and friends start extending them best wishes on their next adventure in life, COLLEGE. They try to give them a few pointers and hints on how much fun they will have in their new adventure. Some tell them it will be “lots of fun” while others advise they stick to business and they will be a lot better for it. But they will have a whole summer of rest in preparation for their new life experience.

But now, today, it’s obtaining the right grades to march down the aisle to “Pomp and Circumstance,” that oh-so-familiar march... the cap and gown were ordered and are in, the graduation announcements have been addressed and ready to be put in the mail and you have to make it to graduation practice and finally the graduation exercises. Some will make it a dressy affair, others will have on jeans and a sports shirt (thank you for gowns) and most will have a message chalked on the board of the hat to their parents or whoever wants to read it. The ceremonies are over and it’s time to say goodbye.

This is where it gets serious for some while others will try to be humorous, hoping it will cover up how they really feel...there will be tears, handshakes, kisses, hugs and smiles, but not one of them will ever forget those years and when it comes to the alumni banquet in years to come as they pass, the more nostalgic and sentimental they will get to see those kids, some of whom you sat in the first kindergarten class with.