Apologies for being so quiet around here, but life became unbloggable and politics became unbearable. Bleh.

It’s graduation this weekend and I’ll be attending some of the festivities today. My first freshman is graduating, as are several other students with whom I’ve worked for a couple of years. I always find graduations to be such bittersweet ceremonies. On the one hand, everyone is excited and proud. On the other, everyone is sad to say goodbye to longtime friends.

My high school graduation, I wasn’t all that sad. By the graduation came around, I was ready to be done, ready to leave the place and people I’d know for the last 12 years. And since I’d goofed off enough to miss being valedictorian or anything special like that, for me, the ceremony held no appeal. Besides, the next day, I took off for the beach with her.

College graduation was awkward. My parents were together for the first time since their divorce. You should see the picture someone took of the three of us. We all look as if we might explode at any moment. Like high school, I was somewhat disenchanted by the time graduation rolled around. But I felt like making it through college was more of an accomplishment than making it through high school. My dad offered to take me to Las Vegas. I turned him down in order to hang out with my ex boyfriend and some other friends. I still tell my dad I should have gone with him instead.

I went through another graduation ceremony when I got my M.A. My dad flew in for the ceremony and tended to Geeky Boy, who wanted to go to the bathroom every five minutes. I was 8 months pregnant with Geeky Girl. I looked huge in those robes. This time I felt much more like I was celebrating an accomplishment rather than just going through the motions.

I hope to be going through this again next year, celebrating my Ph.D. And all too soon, Geeky Boy will be graduating high school, then Geeky Girl. For the parents, I suppose, watching their kids graduate makes them proud and sad at the same time, for they, too, must be saying goodbye to a part of their kids as they grow into adults and enter the world.