I remember every one of my sons’ graduations.  I remember every ceremony and how I felt that day…it’s easy, because I cried at every one of them. I was the preschool parent who cried at every move up.  The kindergarten mom who cried through the entire ceremony as each tiny little person entered the room with his/her handmade mortarboard. I cried as they sang, “We are the class of 2004!”….it seemed a lifetime away.  But it wasn’t.

I swear I blinked and 18 years had gone by and we were attending the oldest son’s high school graduation. This one was bigger and fancier than the first, but I cried throughout the whole ceremony just as I had previously.

The youngest just graduated from college in December and once again we attended the celebration. This one was in prestigious robes worn for years by other graduates. It was a formal affair, one commiserate with his new degree….Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources. We couldn’t have been prouder as we searched him out with binoculars and yes, I cried. I cried because my time as a mom was over and it’d gone by much too fast.

Tiny Prints Graduation Announcements

So if I always cry, you’re probably wondering why I like graduations.  It’s because they make a mark in the timeline of my life. It keeps things in chronological order and it gives me something to look forward to as well as to look back on. So yes, we celebrate, in our way. Quietly as a family. We don’t do big parties, but I know many do.

I wish I had digital photos of their kindergarten graduations…but it was before we owned a digital and the print copies are in a box labeled “scrapbook stuff” somewhere in the garage.  Heck, we’d just gotten a 35mm when the oldest graduated from kindergarten and thought we were set for life!  That 35mm sits in a closet with all its cool lenses I just had to have…but that’s a whole other post.

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