Graduation…bittersweet, but a part of life!
It’s that time again- graduations are right around the corner. It’s such a bittersweet time as a mom (and dad). I know when my own girls graduated from high school, and my oldest daughter graduated from college and then attained her Masters, and my younger daughter, who is working on her college degree while traveling as a model, I was, and am, so proud of the young women they’ve become, and yet part of me was sad that they were growing into adults, and no longer my little girls.
I’ve had a lot of customers in the shop lately, looking for graduation gifts, or some little something extra to put on a gift. A lot of people have commented on how they can’t believe their daughter or son is at that stage in their life. But time is like that, it waits on no one, and we are all changing and growing each and every day.
Just yesterday, my close friend called to tell me she was getting ready for her son’s graduation from The Ohio State University on Sunday. Of course, I knew he was graduating, but it still seemed to come out of nowhere. My friend has been telling me all along how he’s doing, that he changed his major and had to go an extra year, but how much happier he was. She’s been so happy for him to finally get out and on his own, waiting for him to go to graduate school. But something in her voice yesterday caught my attention. She was trying to sound upbeat and happy. I could tell. However, her tone said something else. I asked her what was wrong, and she began to cry, telling me her son had enlisted in the Army Reserves, and that while she was happy for him, she was a little scared that his training as a medic might put him in a bad place someday. She said she realized that it was what he wanted to do. He always wanted to participate in “Doctors Without Borders” since he’d volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and helped build homes in West Virginia, while in high school. He really liked helping people in need, and it’s partly what made him want to work as a psychologist. But now, he’d be gone for six months, training to become a medic, and the realization that he wouldn’t be home until Christmas was setting in with her. I immediately told her that she should be proud that he wanted to help his country, and that those six months of training weren’t just about learning medicine, they were training him for safety, too. She agreed. She knew that, and she is very proud of him. I also told her that she should have faith that her son will make the right choices for himself. He’ll keep himself safe, and do the right thing. He’s that kind of young man. I told her not to look at this as the ending of his college years but as the beginning of his successful life as a man. I also teased her and told her he’d look pretty good in uniform. She laughed, and I could tell she was feeling better. Graduation is the embarkation of something better to come. It’s not an end, it’s the start of new and wonderful horizons. Graduation is the chance to make possibilities realities. My friend agreed.
As moms, we all worry about our kids once they leave the safety of home. Whether they’re leaving for college, and the new experiences it brings, or graduating college and going off to start a career, possibly far from home, we all become a little anxious knowing they are on their own, making their own decisions, as well as their own mistakes. But that’s life. We all grow each day, graduating a little more each day, becoming a little better each day. We give our kids the solid foundation of education, manners, morals, life-skills, and above all, love and support.
My friend Pam and her son Alex.
If you have someone graduating this spring, make sure you let them know how proud you are of them, and reassure them you know they’ve got a good foundation to make the right choices. Stay positive, and enjoy this great milestone with them! Congratulations to all the graduates, as you embark on the next chapter of life!
Tami Loves…a new beginning, and the promise of a bright future!
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR GRADUATE!!!! ❤️❤️
And congratulations to the three beautiful girls in this picture, Lydia Phillips, Samantha Reed, and Kasey MacLaine.
