Pomp and Circumstance

Last night we trudged over to Roy Wilkens auditorium in Saint Paul for a high school graduation ceremony. The weather was great so it would have been a great day to graduate outside. I thought back to my own graduation ceremony which was outside on the football field. I sat in a chair out on the grass while my parents and my Grandmother sat in the metal bleachers. I wore a black robe and a black hat. My tassel was yellow. I still have my tassel hanging on the kitchen cupboard door handle. Some kids were batting beach balls back and forth during the ceremony which, for me, was anxiety ridden and boring. I was anxious about falling as I walked up the steps, across the stage, down the steps and back to  my seat.  I didn't fall though. What did I wear under my gown? I suppose I wore a dress and flat shoes. I noticed other kids in the audience bringing their arm up and pointing their elbow at the blue sky. I was so naive. Those kids had bottles of alcohol under the sleeves of their robe. I can't remember who spoke or what they said. I was one of 624 kids graduating. I was a slightly above average student with a very small amount of school spirit. I liked our school fight song though because one of my fellow students said her father wrote it and I thought that was cool. I understand that the fight song for this school is a variation of the one he wrote for my school. As I sat in my chair at the auditorium last night memories kept flooding back. The pomp and circumstance song played. Young adults of all colors, shapes and sizes filed by. Most of the graduates decorated the tops of their hats. My particular graduate had an avocado on hers. Some kids had college logos or sayings or flowers or glitter or fur attached to their square topped hats. One guy had LED lighting in a rainbow strip on his hat. We didn't decorate our hats when I graduated. One of the student speakers last night gave an incredibly moving rap song or poem. Wearing her hijab she impressed all of us with her performance and her words. I am quite certain that woman will go places in her future. All the students will go places. Just where they go remains to be seen. I, for one, am not one bit envious of any one of them. I sat in my chair with my bad back and my arthritic joints and was glad that I am where I am in life.