It’s graduation season, baby, and while I’m not personally donning a cap and gown this year, my baby brother walked across the stage this past weekend.
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Well, “baby” is sort of a misnomer, as he’s 22 and taller than me and officially a college grad. But as we took pictures and packed up his apartment, I remembered him as a chubby little toddler, and it was hard to reconcile that with the full-grown adult standing next to me.
Saturday started early, around 4:45 a.m. Graduation was at 9 a.m., we had quite a drive ahead of us to the university, and we had to factor in time to park and trek across campus and find seats in a very crowded auditorium.
So, my alarm went off at 4:45. I blearily got dressed and made coffee. And then I hunched over the steering wheel and basically blacked out for two and a half hours and came to again when I was pulling into a parking space. Thank God for good music and iced coffee, which are the two things that kept me awake enough to manage the drive, even if I’m still feeling the sleepiness two days later.
Graduation itself was like all commencement ceremonies, including my own: kind of boring. Lots of speeches. Lots of people walking across the stage. A vaguely desperate plea from the alumni association to remember your alma mater and donate.
But when it came time for my brother to walk across the stage, all bets were off. Our little cheering section screamed and wooed and clapped like crazy. He graduated summa cum laude with two majors and we were all very proud of him.
It reminded me of my own college graduation, in some ways. I don’t remember every detail of that day, but I do recall the excitement buzzing in the air, the way my friends and I held onto each other as we reconciled that this chapter of our lives was truly over.
Now, four years after that, my brother is the one with the cap and gown and freshly minted degree. It’s wild how time flies.
While the day of the ceremony itself was exciting, I know a lot of graduates are now entering the next phase of their lives, where the “what happens now” angst settles in. Ah, I remember that phase well. It’s strange to realize that there is no prescribed path. For some of us, post-grad life is the first time there’s never been an obvious next step.
That’s half the fun, of course. It’s thrilling and terrifying in equal measure to realize you can do whatever you want, move anywhere, take any job that’ll have you. To the Class of 2026, I say, have fun with it.
But beware: life moves fast. I can’t believe my own graduation was four years ago; I graduated high school eight years ago. And the years are starting to blend together, without an obvious marker, like each school year, to tell them apart.
That’s not necessarily bad. It’s just strange. It’s true what they say, how time goes faster as you get older. The days are long and the years are shockingly short.
I don’t say all that to be menacing or to put a damper on a very exciting time. On the contrary, I say it as a reminder to these graduates to not lose sight of the fact that the decisions they make today will shape their lives. Don’t let life happen to you. Make these choices with your full chest.
And, in the meantime, celebrate. You’ve earned it. You’ve done something very difficult and deserve all the praise and good things coming your way.
And remember that while those murky weeks after graduation can be confusing, you’ll find your way through. You’ve done harder things before. This is just the next adventure.
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