A sea of graduation caps, suspended mid-air like question marks tossed toward the future.
Molly, my daughter, graduated Grade 12 this week alongside 300+ other students.
Holy was that ever a process. 300 kids. One by one, called up to the stage – name, applause, award or handshake, diploma, exit stage left.
Some teetered in heels they were clearly meeting for the first time. Others shuffled through in unlaced sneakers like they were just taking the garbage out.
Me? Holding my breath for the wobblers… while the voice in my head whispered to the slow-walkers, “Let’s go, kid. It’s a school night.”
Elementary school recitals? Drive-bys compared to this.
Needless to say, I had a lot of time on my hands.
How vast and varied this crowd of kids is – and all of them facing the same moment in time.
Some walked the stage to roaring cheers. Some to quiet claps. Some weren’t there at all. Two sang a duet. One gave a brilliant valedictorian speech. Families beamed, cameras flashed. And through it all, you could see flickers of who they are or who they’re becoming.
The drama kids. The jocks.
The IT nerds who will rule the world one day.
The ones who knew exactly where to look for the camera.
The ones who couldn’t get off stage fast enough.
Somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, I got philosophical.
These kids start out in the smallest of ponds, the one inside their family. Then comes nursery school, then elementary, each one a bit wider, with new faces and bigger questions.
High school – the biggest pond yet: 1200 students, clubs, cliques, talent shows, and debate nights. A place big enough to find your people, your thing.
And now…they’ve outgrown that, too.
Entering an ocean so vast it makes high school look like a wading pool.
This is the moment. Anything is possible.
College. University. The job market. Travel. Moving out. A shot at independence before the bills and the mortgage and the grocery lists kick in.
A tiny pocket of time where you only answer to you.
They are standing at the cliff of possibility. And that made me think…
What if every morning was its own kind of graduation?
Every day is a beginning. A gift handed to us.
Sure, we’ve got responsibilities. People who count on us. Crammed calendars and commitments. We also have a lifetime of experience managing all of this. We’re wiser now, master plate-spinners.
And what if this is the masterclass of life? Every day we wake up, we cross a kind of stage. Body, mind, and spirit—graduated into a new day.
Now what are you going to do with it? For me, looking at it that way, I sure as hell won’t be complaining about being busy, or dragging my heels to the next meeting, or focusing on the little things that annoy me at home (although you really should rinse your own dishes!!)
Nope. I have a new outlook.
To all the 2025 graduates (and everyone else graduating into this day) Hats off to you. Go see what’s possible!
Mary
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