Graduation

Shirra and I attended a graduation this morning. Aware of the circumstance but not of the pomp, we were just about the only parents in shorts and tee shirts. Siblings missed school to attend. Well-dressed parents and grandparents leafed thru glossy programs. The affair began with a rendition of Pomp and Circumstance played by a professional violinist. Then the 5-year-olds marched to the stage. The Huguenot Preschool Graduation ceremony had begun.

Teachers and Board members spoke briefly and movingly about how much the class meant to them. A class mom played guitar and sang an original song about love. My old best friend Ben, whose son was graduating, showed a snazzy slide montage to the tune of a slightly inappropriate Johnny Cash song about a love more carnal than anything these kids have experienced since their own births. Suddenly it was time for cake. Like the graduates, the ceremony was short and sweet. There was even a local reporter on hand, tho I suspect that this had to do more with the fact that her son was graduating than with the newsworthiness of the event.

Unfortunately the valedictorian's talk was garbled and altogether lost due to her inability to hold cookies in one hand and the microphone in the other. The class president more than made up for it with a rousing speech entitled, "From Diapers to Depends: Let's Make a Difference Now that We Can Wear Spiderman Underpants."

I was kicked out of preschool at age 3 and then changed schools two more times by 2nd Grade, so I didn't have anything to graduate from until I was 13. By that age, my little one will be wearing a cap and gown for the fourth time. And yes, the kids wore little caps today as they marched in. Then they flipped them over and used them as bowls for their grapes and pretzels at the party. If anything the school teaches about love,kindness, and recycling.