As the weather gets warmer, there are more and more things to do all up and down the North Shore. One of the biggest events—perhaps the biggest for Cook County High School seniors and their parents—is graduation.
It’s become a tradition for me to write a special Unorganized Territory for the parents of the graduating class. Readers may wonder why I don’t write something for the graduates. I’ll admit I thought about it. When the graduation column tradition began, I meant to write a message to the seniors themselves. But I realized that the students finishing their last week of high school and preparing for commencement exercises don’t really want to hear from some old newspaper woman.
Don’t misunderstand—I wish the very best for the Class of 2011. I just think they are too busy right now to listen. They are making plans for the summer and for the future. What an amazing, bittersweet time it is for them.
Although it was long ago, I can easily remember those final days—the exhilaration of being done with high school mingled with the sadness of knowing my friends and I were heading off in different directions, not knowing when we would see each other again—and knowing that things would never be the same again. But the sadness of goodbye could not overshadow the excitement over what was to come.
It’s a different story for parents. It’s a happy time, of course. Parents are filled with relief that all those battles over homework and curfews are over. They are proud that their child has fulfilled the requirements of graduation and will make a dramatic entry in his or her cap and gown.
But there is also that looming goodbye—the one that all parents dread from the time their child takes his or her first steps, gets on the bus on the first day of kindergarten, or gets behind the steering wheel for the first time. Graduation is a final rite of passage, one that comes all too soon.
It’s hard to believe that the tiny baby that changed your world could turn into an adult in such a quick time. It’s hard to believe how fast all those years of teacher conferences, spring concerts, sporting events, and lastminute grade concerns flew by.
The last few months are the craziest, with the final chaos of invitations and open houses. Parents scramble to make sure they have enough brats, buns, and balloons for the party. It’s a good thing there is a lot to do—it makes it a bit easier for mom and dad. At least until the graduate packs up his or her belongings and leaves them to the empty nest.
For those parents, I’m ending with a longer-than-usual quote. I received it from my mom when my first “baby” graduated. I’ve shared this Erma Bombeck quote at graduation for several years now. It still makes me tear up when I read it, but I still find comfort in it. I hope the parents of the Class of 2011 do too. Children are like kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you’re both breathless – they crash – you add a longer tail – they hit the rooftop – you pluck them out of the spout – you patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and assure them that someday they’ll fly! …Finally they are airborne, but they need more string – you keep letting it out and with each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy, because the kite becomes more distant and somehow you know that it won’t be long until that beautiful creature will snap the life line that bound you together and soar as it was meant to soar – free and alone.
Erma Bombeck
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