Graduation

I fasten my hat with my old-fashioned hat pin. It is more of a beach hat than a fashionable hat, but it is enough to keep the sun off. The day is hot even into the early evening although we don’t really care. We have waited for this day with sweet anticipation and sweet sadness as well. It is graduation day for Angola High School.

The family from Charleston arrives at the 11^th hour so that we can all sit together in the bleachers at the football field. Even with the heat, the field is beautiful and everyone is happy and very chatty. My seat is at the end of the row with my family, and I look down at everyone gathered to celebrate this day. I check for my handkerchief but I guess I dropped it in the car somewhere so I will have to do without. Maybe, I won’t need it as I have had lots of tears beforehand. It isn’t that I am not happy, I am happy. Very. But, truthfully there is just something amazing having a grandchild graduate from high school. It is a very different feeling. I always knew, in the back of my mind, that this day would come, but it also seems to me that Jonah, and all of the other grandchildren, would be children forever.

The high school band assembles and begins playing the traditional Pomp and Circumstance. I always have a lump in my throat at the playing of this song no matter where I am or which graduation I am attending. Curiosity takes over for me wondering why we play this song. So, here is a little history lesson for you. In 1901 Sir Edward Elgar wrote this song for King Edward VII for his coronation. The title was taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Othello, “Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war.” The song and the English composer made their debut in 1905 at the Yale graduation where Elgar received an honorary Doctorate of Music. The tradition began then, and it continues to this day for most colleges and high school. It is the perfect song for bands to play as it is full of nostalgia and there are no words. It is also royalty-free so bands have an easy access.

The speeches are next and then the diplomas. One by one the students take their place in the sun to receive their diploma. We wait anxiously for Jonah to take the stage. He gets his diploma, leaves the stage and then what? He sets it down on the ground, and still wearing his cap and gown he does a backwards flip. I knew he talked about it. Perhaps he was the class mascot at the pep rallies, perhaps he took a bet, perhaps it just seemed right at the moment. I know his fellow classmates will always remember that. I just shake my head and pull my hat down a little over my eyes!

The graduation is short. We gather on the football field for photos. Jonah now towers over all of us. There were those days, not so long ago, when he was sure he would never grow. He was the shortest boy on the hockey team, and in his class. Now he is tall and handsome. He mingles with us a bit, but has people to see, friends to share in this moment. No worries, we will see him back at the house for our own celebration.

We order pizza and pull chairs into the living room and he arrives to a thunderous burst of applause. We adore him. In the spirit of family and fun, he takes off a shoe and a sock and we paint the bottom of his foot to put on my wall. He was a baby when we last did that with a tiny little footprint that is forever on my wall, and now his graduation footprint! He is a good sport to do this for the family.

The next day it is all hands-on deck as we prepare for his party. Aaron and Rachel have been preparing for months. We all have chores and fill our tasks with an enormous amount of love. Summer jobs. Fall college plans. A sweet girlfriend leaving for her home country the day after the party. All of these we put on hold to celebrate Jonah. For this night, he is so loved. We all smile and share the joy.

Family. Love. Graduation. Life.