The Graduations that Almost Didn’t Happen

2020 is the year of resilience, flexibility, and creative solutions. It also happens to be the year that two of my three children celebrate major milestones. My youngest, Peter, graduated from high school, and my oldest, Bethany, graduated from college. However, they both almost lost their ceremonies.

Peter’s Senior Shirt – Wylie Class of 2020 Quarantine: Senior Skip Day Champions. Ha!

Peter’s ceremony was delayed about three weeks. The venue was moved outdoors to the football stadium and Covid precautions with socially distant seating and temperatures taken at the front gate were put in place. Since it’s Texas, the ceremony was planned at 9:00 pm to escape the heat of the day. What we couldn’t escape was a thunderstorm.We managed to get everyone in the stadium, watched our students march in with all the appropriate pomp and circumstance. We even made it through the first of 4 prerecorded student speeches. Then the lightning hit, followed by torrential rain. Everyone hustled off the field and out of the stadium. After a 30 minute delay they announced that we would try again at 8:00 am in the morning.

We came back the following morning, the kids took their places on the field and we picked up where we left off. Lightning flashed in the distance, but we all ignored it. A light rain shower hit about midway through the C names. We all prayed to get through the alphabet – especially us, since W is at the end. The rain stopped and we made it through! Hooray. He’s officially graduated with diploma in hand.

But there is a bright side to all the drama. Later in life when his kids complain about how long their graduation ceremonies are, he can say, “Ha! You think this ceremony is long. back in my day, my high school graduation ceremony lasted two whole days!” It’s almost as good as walking to school in the snow, uphill both ways.

This Saturday, we will attempt to watch our daughter walk across the stage. We will be outdoors again in the ACU football stadium. Her group gets the early 9:00 am start, with a 7:30 call time. There will be another ceremony in the evening. Texas heat is a killer, folks!

There was much talk about this ceremony not even happening, so I am super thankful that our university president made it a priority. Bethany is graduating with a 4.0 and a double major in math and computer science. Yep, the girl’s a smarty pants. She is headed to Texas A&M later this month to start work on a PhD in computer graphics. Thanks to one of my reader friends, she’s even got a new set of masks to wear when she gets there.

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Have you had to miss or reschedule any major events this spring/summer due to the pandemic?