Final Countdown to Commencement

This appeared in our mailbox just after spring break.

 

It came in the mail two days after Jack returned to college after spring break: a guide to commencement for undergraduate parents.

His last spring break. The final countdown.

“You are no doubt looking forward to celebrating your student’s successful time…” the guide said by way of “greetings & congratulations” before warning us that traffic most likely would be at a standstill as we try to reach the campus that day.

Even so, there likely will be plenty of time, as the “candidates” line up with their academic schools, to find a spot in the reserved family seating area and think back to that first tour of this campus, the open house for accepted students, orientation (for all of us), the freshman move-in and parents’ day and the new class schedules affixed each semester to our refrigerator door.

As parents, we worried and fretted a little; relived the college experience vicariously on occasion and struggled to redefine the family dynamic to encompass new categories such as “empty-nester” and “young adult.” And each year, we realized with pride that our college kid had matured a little more.

Now, four years have gone by — too fast — and graduation day this May will be move-home day. For awhile, our nest will no longer be empty but the difference is that Jack now has the tools to build his own nest. When the time comes.

So, when the guide asks, “What do I need to know about commencement?,” I think I’ve got the important stuff figured out.

And, yes, we will celebrate.