Graduation Expedition

This blog is a few of months overdue! I, like so many others nowadays, have been busy treading water, feeling trapped in a bubble, like I’m caught in a dream, totally distracted by this surreal life we’re all living, all while living our lives. I even wrote this a while ago, just never went back for the finishing touches so I could post it. Now I’m ready! Without further ado, here is the graduation blog…

For years, whenever anyone mentioned my kids graduating, I would say “Oh, my! I am going to be a puddle on the floor!”. I figured I would be so emotional seeing our babies, our twin buddies, graduating high school together in the same auditorium that their mother and father both graduated in so many years before. Well, things happened and the vision we all had for their senior year, graduation, graduation party, summer and post graduation was very different from reality. There were puddles, though! I’ll get to that later.

One thing that changed my earlier vision of their graduation was the loss of my parents. My Mom and Dad were a key part of Connor’s and Rachel’s childhood and upbringing. Mom passed away in 2015 and Dad in 2017. As Connor and Rachel grew, I envisioned their Grandma and Grandpa, along with my family, attending their graduation. It was not to be! My parents were definitely with us in spirit and in our hearts. 

We all know what the Coronavirus Pandemic did to our lives. I’m not going to reiterate full details of how it changed the course of Connor’s and Rachel’s senior year. I am going to talk about their graduation and graduation party a bit, though!

Their class was to graduate on June 27, 2020. They ended up graduating on July 18, 2020 with a creative, yet effective alternate plan! Instead of graduating in the school auditorium, they graduated on the school’s baseball field. We’ll get to that part soon, we’ll go in chronological order of the events as they happened. 

I had set the date of their graduation party to July 11, way back before fate changed their graduation plans. I took the week before and after as vacation to prep for the party and to then to recoup from the prep and party the following week. We planned to have the party at home, in our yard. 

Enter Covid-19. For a while, I wasn’t sure I would continue with the plans to have a party. Then I came up with a plan that I felt would work. We would have a two part party. One at 2:00, intended to be smaller and more easily socially distanced. Then another part of the party would start at 5:30, still socially distanced, but open to more people, including Connor’s and Rachel’s friends. Having two parts made for a smaller number of attendees. Brilliant! (Even if I do say so myself! 😂) 

This plan was executed very well! I borrowed five pop up tents, extra tables, chairs, coolers, yard games. I devised a plan to serve food safely, while maintaining set guidelines. I had individual chip bags, hand sanitizer, balloons and napkins set at each colorfully covered table under the pop up tents and a couple of extra tables set up under a tree nearby. There was a smaller tent that was borrowed from and specially retro fitted to recognize Corona by my soon to be nephew-in-law, Carmen. We had another tent we borrowed from our neighbors set up in the front that was to serve as the buffet and grill station. It was beautiful! I did it. 

Wish I had taken some photos before the rain (and HUGE puddles, not from my tears, after all) came! I have some from during, though. It was the craziest weather event and it started at 1:55 p.m., exactly 5 minutes before the part one party was to begin! 

Long story shortened and somewhat illustrated by the photos below, the best laid and executed plans by this mouse were torn assunder once again! We endured a several hour long torrential downpour. Tents were disassembled and one borrowed canopy was destroyed and ultimately replaced. HOWEVER!!! We had the best time at that party! We were so blessed by those who attended! I was reminded that I we have so much for which we should always be grateful.

One week later, we celebrated the graduation! As mentioned before, they did not graduate in the school auditorium as is tradition. The school administration, faculty and staff went above and beyond to make a plan that worked, all while listening to feedback from the graduates and their families. They tweaked things and the end result was fantastic!

A stage was constructed on one end of the school’s baseball field. Chairs placed behind the stage in a socially distanced single line for the graduates. This was a small class of 74, so it worked. Each student was allowed to have a car with their family pull onto the field and park facing the stage, drive-in movie style. The ceremony was broadcast on an fm frequency, the entire event was live streamed. Families were allowed to exit their cars to queue up for their graduate to cross the stage. This allowed us a bird’s eye view of the moment and a chance to cheer our graduates front and center as they crossed the stage and then personally congratulate them when they exited the stage! I felt this part was better than the traditional version of graduation.

After the graduation, we took some pictures at a park since the tradition of congregating outside the school and greeting and congratulating all the graduates and their families and snapping photos there was not an option.This worked out nicely! We had more time, Connor and Rachel and their friends got to see one another and we got some awesome photos. After the photos were done, we had a luncheon for my family back at our house. Connor and Rachel eventually went to visit friends who had graduation parties that day. It was a lovely day!

Here’s my take on all of this. Life throws us curve balls, always! The key to peace and some semblance of happiness is to roll with it and enjoy the blessings that are always there, even amidst the storms. Did it all go according to my vision? Nope! Is it all according to God’s vision? Absolutely. I’m blessed beyond belief, even when I don’t feel like I am.