Swept Up in the Graduation Whirlwind

Never miss a graduation

We weren’t going to miss anything, even though we knew we would be weary from the whirlwind of graduation: three in a week from Tufts to Maryland and back to Rhode Island, with breakfasts and lunches, dinners, transfers, speeches, hoops, hollers, and awards ceremonies in between. No, we were not going to miss anything so important.

It began with a granddaughter graduating from Tufts University and two wonderful evenings at the marvelous Encore Hotel in Boston, followed by a flight the next day for another granddaughter's graduation at the University of Maryland.

We spent three nights at The Hilton in beautiful Alexandria, our first in a marvelous city rich in history. Thanks to graduations, we get to visit new places.

Then, home for our grandson’s from St. Andrews School.

Whew. A whistling whirlwind. But every minute was worth it, just as it was two years ago when we had three graduations from Providence to Chicago to California in ten days. Once again, it was tiring but not to be missed.

Certainly, the graduates were the highlights, but there was much more... from a series of family events to breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, to Pomp and Circumstance, featuring guest speakers, including Kermit the Frog in Maryland (I almost cried when he sang the Rainbow Connection), to awards and beauty; shining faces, huge smiles, an abundance of hugs, and perhaps ten thousand pictures that I will need to sort.

Graduations represent a ton of hard work to get to the desired end. Parents bear the brunt of the emotional part. Are attending grandchildrens’ graduations necessary? You bet they are.

Graduation marks the successful completion of a scholarly excursion, and attached to it is that personal sense of accomplishment and pride. “I did it!”

“We did it.”

An ongoing journey it is because it is the end of one phase, while another begins soon. The doors are open even wider to more education, career opportunities, and personal growth. Suffice it to say, the growth should never end.

When I graduated from Classical High School, I had one goal. I knew I wanted to be a physician so, undaunted, I pursued it with intensity, vigor and enthusiasm. How lucky I was to know then what my endpoint would be. So of necessity, I developed the skills of discipline, problem solving, and passing a test with a decent grade.

I saw similar qualities in the eyes of our graduates, and I was pleased. That’s a good thing.

So there we sat and stood, sat, and stood, again and again, throughout the ceremonies, and loved it. There we celebrated with our children, watching theirs with pride. There we listened to bagpipes and choruses and bands tolling the chords of Pomp and Circumstance, Graduation March, or maybe even Aida March. They blended into one giant parade of successes, so much so that I couldn’t keep them straight. But I was tapping my foot and marching along, you bet.

I heard a bagpiper in the distance. Why do bagpipers always seem to be in the distance?

Oh yes, during one commencement, we sat in a cold drizzle swabbed in mist and blanketed in shivers, cold enough to send us to The Bookstore for a hoodie, even though we were warm from inside out.

Gowns, and caps with mortarboard and tassel. Which way were they going to flip the tassel? I can never remember.

Down the ramps and through the aisles to their seats came the leaders and role models of tomorrow, or so every speaker said. I believed it.

Graduation traditions, including caps and gowns, honor cords and chords, and the tassel ceremony symbolize academic achievement and the transition to a new phase. And palpable were the throbs of hope mingled with and swaddled in joy.

I had a few buttons pop off my shirt. By the third graduation, I needed safety pins. Just kidding. I bought a new shirt.

More than just ceremonies, graduations are fun.

I write about staying in touch with longtime friends, so I was appreciative of Kermit’s comment, “Life is better when we leap together.”

“The truth is,” the Muppet said, “dreams are how we figure out where we want to go, and life is how we get there.”

Dreams and graduations represent milestones, and we lucky grandparents were molded into those miles. They were moments so beautiful, they must be captured, attended. They and our graduates revitalized us.

© 2025