Reality check

Photo by Linda Gerrior

Graduation is always a time of excitement and expectation. The future is laid out before the grads full of possibilities. It is a time of change, of evolution, of movement into adulthood and the real world that many graduates have been clamouring to see and experience.

I always feel the rush of excitement every graduation season. It gives me a thrill to think of all these graduates will do in the coming years. But this year is a little different, a little like a wake up call.

I know many of the graduates this year and the thing is, I first knew them when they were aged nine or 10, the same age as my kids now. And somehow these kids are graduating. How did that time from elementary school to graduation go so fast?

This graduating class leaves me feeling a little scared as it has become clear that in a blink of an eye it will be my own children walking across that stage and then we will all begin a new stage in life; a stage where my favourite people will no longer be living in my house. That's the thing about being a parent, you raise your kids to be the sort of people you want to be around, and then they leave.

It's a day of mixed emotions for parents and this is the first year that I caught that sensation as well as the excitement. It will be my turn to cry soon enough.

Congratulations to all the graduates. Here's a toast to the parents for bringing them up and letting them go.