I first met Aaron’s cousin Caitlin at Christmas in 2002, before Aaron and I were married. We were all milling around the door, saying our goodbyes, when she decided to try on my Converse and walk around in them, clown-shoe-style.
Some seventeen years later…
Nate had invited us out to Caiti’s graduation, and we wanted to be there for her, since we honestly don’t have a whole lot of family left on our side. It was an hour’s drive, but it was totally worth it.
Connor was surprisingly calm and quiet during the ceremony. There was plenty to keep his attention, though, between the band and all the banners hanging around the gymnasium of the newly-built school.
The Class of 2019 was the first to graduate from the new school.
The graduating class was only 65 strong, but that meant everyone seemed to know everyone else… as evidenced by the Senior Memories part of the program, where the valedictorian and salutatorian recited a poem with one line about every graduating Senior.
Other notable parts of the ceremony — well, notable to me, anyway — included the fact that the band Seniors warmed up with the rest of the ensemble, then left their instruments on their chairs and went to join their graduating class… but never returned to their instruments. I wonder if that was supposed to be symbolic for the remainder of the group. The band director must have been military or former military, as he wore his uniform instead of a tuxedo, complete with Sergeant insignia on the sleeve. Also notable to me was the fact that not only did the band lose half of their clarinet section to graduation, but they also lost at least one percussion member, as he was apparently the one who manned the cymbals during the Star-Spangled Banner. (Whoops.)
The choir was meek and timid and would have been inaudible if not for the two mics amplifying them. The choir director was one of the faculty recognized for her retirement after this school year, so the former music major in me wonders if the new director will take the choir in a new, more assertive direction.
(Clearly, I had my own distractions to keep me occupied during the ceremony.)
One other thing that I thought was interesting — and a perk of going to a small school — was that each Senior got to choose which faculty member would give them their diploma. I did notice that one Senior chose the band director.
(That got me to wondering… if I’d had that opportunity, who would I have chosen? Probably my choir director, since she was so important to me through my entire high school career.)
Each Senior got a sunflower and a Parent Diploma to give to their parents, which was a nice touch. Caiti chose to give the flower to her Mom and the diploma to her Dad.
After the ceremony, we all made our way to the cafeteria, where families and friends gathered in groups large and small. We easily found our family members in the throng — Aaron’s brother clearly wasn’t feeling well, but pushed through because he felt that it was important to be there, and warned everyone not to hug him.
As with all rites of passage, we saw family members we hadn’t seen in forever, like Aaron’s Uncle Ron, Caiti’s grandfather. There were lots of pictures taken, plenty of conversation, and Connor kept asking when we were leaving. In the end, he watched his cousin Andrew play on his phone while the adults talked.
Afterward, six of us — Caiti, her Dad, her brother, Aaron, Connor, and I — all went out to Casa Vieja for an early dinner. Great Mexican food, plus they had booths large enough to fit a party of six.
On the way home, I mentioned to Aaron that even though all graduation ceremonies are pretty much the same — the possibilities are endless, we have our whole lives ahead of us, dare to dream, etc. — it’s still nice to be in the midst of all that optimism, that positive energy, to witness all these young people at a pivotal point in their lives. It kind of breaks me out of my middle-aged, jaded, Gen-X pessimism for a moment and helps me remember what it was like to be young and optimistic and have a whole new realm of possibilities ahead.
Congratulations, Caiti. And thanks again for inviting us to share this day with you.