I am not lost in the desert or in the woods, but quietly sitting at a desk trying to compose the story of my middle grandgirl’s high school graduation.
But, I am lost nevertheless because there are no pictures to accompany this post – no photographs to charm you with the great beauty of three grandgirls (who have inherited their looks, grace and charm from me of course).
Why no photos?
I have misplaced the USB cord or whatever you call the cable cord thing that transfers photos from a little point-and-shoot camera to my laptop (computer that is). The effects of this loss are simply devastating!
A Writer in the Making
For lo these many years I thought I was an as-yet-unrecognized writer of burgeoning off and on skill. And now, at last, here it is the supreme test: How to Describe Just Another High School Graduation, and do it with verve, excitement and joy, all without photographs!
The problem is I am now accustomed to having pictures (or at least A picture) to guide me through the morass of available words. Bubbling up are all those words just waiting to be incorporated. But, it is the photo (even just one) that always triggers The Story.
The Story Sans Photo
The graduation was slated to begin at 8AM!
8AM? What is WRONG with those people?
That meant arising at 5AM to dress, swill some coffee, and stumble onto the soggy athletic field. And that meant staying in a motel the night before. To get to the motel we grimly drove through raging storms from our home in the Shenandoah Valley to the school in chaotic Leesburg, Virginia some three hours away.
Like true explorers, we bravely made our way through violent wind and rain, crawling (in the car) through raging downpours so blinding and so loud as to scream, “STOP – DISASTER AHEAD!”
Couldn’t We Have Ordered the Graduation DVD from Netflix?
Not surprising but we learned the graduation ceremony was moved indoors (still at 8AM however). Immediate family would see the “real thing” in the gym, and less immediate family (like grandparents), would watch a giant screen, televised graduation in the school’s auditorium. It was like going to the movies!
I must say being Less Immediate was preferable to sitting in the bleachers of an athletic field in 90 degree temps, or in the stands of the gym with knees pressing the backs of other grandparents. The auditorium acoustics were better for us “less immediates” too and the seating was truly plush.
I don’t remember such luxury in my own high school auditorium do you? The next best thing to this experience would have been watching the DVD from the comfort of my living room!
Free at Last
- Can you visualize the scene after all diplomas were handed out and all those caps thrown into the air? Hurrah! Freedom!
- And then can you picture 4,000 visitors meeting 400 grads for photographs?
- And can’t you just see 4,400 humans crunched together in a covered space (out of the rain) designed to hold about 400 max? This is where much of the hugging and congratulations went on.
- By the way, did I mention I am claustrophobic?
A Sea of Hope
Graduations are special because all those young faces eager to embark on adult life, represent hope. They are our future of course, and us oldsters watching from the sidelines, know the pain, pitfalls and stumbling blocks they will face along the way.
We don’t want to scare any of you, but it’s why people cry at weddings.
So even though this was just another high school graduation, the speeches urging students to reach bravely for their dreams had special meaning for those of us who have or have not already reached them.
Those bright and shining faces make us recall the days of our own untried youth, our hopes for the future, and the innocence of ignorants about to face the unknown.
It’s why we cry at weddings.
OK, so I get a bit soppy sometimes, but that’s the privilege of the elderly is it not?
And this particular graduation, culminating in overcrowding under the portico, still presented the first major life challenge: HOW TO GET OUT OF THE SCHOOL PARKING LOT IN LESS THAN FOUR HOURS!
A Traffic Clog of Epic Proportions!
Note: There is only one way in for drivers going to that school,
and one way out.
There were 4,000 attendees and 400 grads.
That’s approximately how many cars?
Are you good at math?
We spent the next hour(s) navigating in sometimes unorthodox ways (like traversing a no-drive median) to get off school premises, and eventually moved on to finally arrive at an overcrowded restaurant (with other graduates and their families) – the place of our family celebration.
There was still joy aplenty, lots of pictures to be taken, and we all maintained the right air of patience and celebration. The brunch/lunch was actually delightful and another chance to revel in the pride and prejudice of parents and grandparents in the accomplishments of progeny.
Storm Chasers Return
Traveling home was once again through a wall of severe rainstorms and tension. We didn’t know it but we were driving through tornado weather. There were tornado warnings which we never heard since we were too busy driving, and to say the rain was torrential was to underestimate nature’s wrath.
We made it home in tact to a somewhat traumatized dog who hates to be left, even with a dog loving dog-sitter.
And though we had only been gone overnight, I was sure it was a month or more.
Sleeping it Off
I could be found sleeping most of the next day (occasionally on the floor with Rozie, the dog), and then through the night, since I evidently managed to stagger from the floor to the bed.
Now, mostly awake and semi-productive, I recall with pride watching our lovely granddaughter march rapidly across the movie screen to receive her high school diploma.
I knew it was Kendall because they called her name, but I didn’t really see her because her face was covered by very long hair (the same long hair on most of the other female grads). It must have been a grandparent’s instinct to recognize family offspring.
I am ready now,
prepared to show you pictures.
It was just another graduation,
only there are no photos.
It’s why we cry at weddings.
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