Thursday, June 5, 2008

Graduation Triumph



I remember not being all that excited about my own graduation. After all, there was so much left to do! I was already teaching and playing gigs. I had already started the transition to college. My girlfriend wasn't graduating yet. Most of all, I felt like I hadn't really done anything yet.

I have such a different perspective now, seeing the learning process from the beginning as I am with Harrison. I watch him do his first-grade homework every night. So much work, stress, and sometimes screaming and crying (and that's just Sarah) all year. All of that learning is real work. And it's only going to get tougher. And this is just the first of four . . .

(!) I think I need to go lay down for a moment . . .

Anyway, I have a new appreciation of how much work it will take to go from cute but illiterate new Kindergartner to well-rounded, jack-of-all-trades high school graduate. Even for those whose toughest academic work lies ahead in college and graduate school, that diploma really is a cause for celebration. It represents so many years of toil and so much gradual transformation that by the time you're putting on the robes and the funny hat, you've probably forgotten just how much work and change that diploma represents.

So to see that Claire, for whom everything was so recently was in such jeopardy, has graduated is particularly gratifying. She and her family were thrown a frightening curve just as the end was in in sight and they still managed to pull it off. Congratulations to Claire and everyone who helped.

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