The graduations….

Here we are again… summer time and graduation time.

2020 and even 2021 graduations have been rough.

These students… be it high school or college…. Worked so hard for so long, and finally it is the end of the line.  But this line has been changed so much. 

One works hard to get the grades.. studying, test, and so much more…  to finally get that piece of paper to say your worth…  But that is only half of it.  At the end of the line, is the pomp and circumstances one looks forward to. The student as well as the parents..  While it is the beginning of the rest of the student’s life…. It is still the celebration of work well done… but that life pulled the rug from out under them.   Oh, they still get the paper. They have the proof of all that hard work.

But the celebration…. The celebration that brings all together.. for the great release of stress of hard work.. The parents pride.. the student see the fruits of their labor. Years of labor… ESPECIALLY THE COLLEGE student who has done from 4 to 10 years of hard work.. stressful times, self doubt times…  yet still marched on, still banging their heads against the odds.  And came out the winner…  came out to SILENCE….  A mere few words over a zoom like video from some room to another room..  a few friends and family saying or typing congratulations…  And if they were lucky, some small towns got together to try to make it better with beeping cars going by….

I guess the upside of this, is not sitting in the boiling sun, listening to some boring speech about the greatest that will follow, if they keep their heads high and keep working hard. 

But gone are the parties, the throwing of the graduation hats to the skies..  the clapping for the many awards giving out to special students..  The screaming as the student walked across the stage… the tears of the parents as they hug and take pictures after.  

Let’s hope the year of 2022, is back to the great celebration.   And the words of Dr. Seuss ring out from his book… OH THE PLACES YOU WILL GO… 

In the meantime.. the class of 2021, who did get to celebration in your small towns… and those who still have to do the zoom videos…CONGRATULATIONS …. You are one tough student who persisted thru the hardest of times… Nothing came easy the last two years of your schooling..

Now go there and give them hell… You are the proud.. you are the ones who really walked in the snow uphill challengers of life..   Again…CONGRATULATIONS.