Although graduation ceremonies have come and gone in most areas, I'm still thinking about it and the natural course of thought; the after-graduation festivities. After all the photos, the cap tossing and teary good-byes and good-lucks from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, "the real reason", for it all, will finally be upon this years graduates, THE GRADUATION PARTY.

I'm not sure what kids these days do for a graduation party, but I know anything they do will probably be a lot more exciting than what I did. I remember there being several parties happening that night and after much consideration, I decided not to go to any. I'd never been popular in high school, so attending a party put on by the popular kids wasn't a place I wanted to be. I wasn't a hard-core either, so I couldn't imagine myself sitting in a room shrouded in sweet-smelling smoke. Instead, my after-graduation party was spent with my closest friends dealing and laying cards on a scarred dining room table in an endless game of poker. TOS - The Mountain of Pure Rock blasted our favorite classics all night, rum and coke (yes we were underage, but it was graduation night) was as endless as the poker game. And the amount of laughter and fun we had, qualified that night as a great graduation party for us. It was a great way to end four years of purgatory. It was a relief to be done with it.

High school, for me, was like time wasted in a waiting room. Flipping through magazines, turning the page in order to find a more interesting article; reading the lines, only to have them eventually blur into nonsensical and repetitive paragraphs. Constantly looking up from the magazine to check the time, wondering how much longer this is all going to take. Then being filled with anticipation when the name-caller comes into the room and you wait to hear your name...and then the disappointment when someone else is called. But, then when your name finally is called, tossing aside the magazine and eagerly rushing to meet whatever's on the other side of the wall.

I was thrilled to leave the waiting room of high school and see what was on the other side of those brick walls. I didn't have any idea of where I was going or what I was going to do, but at that age who does? It's been twenty-six years since I graduated and it seems impossible that it's been that many years since that almighty certificate was placed in my outstretched hand by then principal, Mr. Perry.

I think about this year's graduates, including my stepdaughter, and think about what lies ahead for her and all of them. So many of them are asked what they're going to do with their lives and are expected to have an answer. I wonder, why should they know that right now? Why should any teen have to know what they're going to do with the rest of their lives when they're only eighteen years old? I say, forget about that right now, go enjoy life for a little while! There's plenty of time to be an adult. Go be a princess at Disney World, hack your way through the trails on a backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail and definitely take the time to see the sunrise from the top of a mountain.

I'd like to say I accomplished my lofty teenage goal of becoming rich and famous, but my talents were, and still are, very limited, and definitely not money makers. So, I did like many other young women did, fell in love, got married and had a child. But, you know, becoming a mother was the best thing I could ever have done. And in my children's eyes, I am something special. And really, who else is there to impress?